The Rite of Passage
by Zantetsuken Reverse
Summary: New summary. Romano knows the mafia rite of passage- to kidnap him. After he finds out about the next Vongola boss coming to abduct him, he calls in some friends... Tsuna now knows of the mafia Rite- kidnap the official Lovino Vargas. Not only does he have his conscience to deal with, he has to deal with Lovino's friends... from Cafe Hetalia. Sorry, can't take suggestions.
1. Chapter 1

I had wanted to make a KHR and Hetalia fanfiction for a while. It's sometime after the Vongola Ring arc, vs. Xanxus, but before the Future arc. A lot of people like the 'Romano's in the mafia' idea, and so do I, but after reading the 'You can grasp the entire European economy in 2 minutes' strip, I realized that the mafia was a real problem. Basically, in the strip, Spain is sick, and Romano tries to help him, but the mafia hinders his efforts. So this is the resulting idea!

This isn't going to be updated constantly. I have two regularly updated fics, one dead one, two completed, and one on a long hiatus. This will be… the one that I write when I don't have anything for the others, or the one on impulse. Also, the Avatar

The Rite of Passage (Tsuna POV)

I was having another bad day as No-good Tsuna. I got up late, I had most of my breakfast stolen by Lambo, and it turns out that I have a math test next period. "Let's see… the quadratic formula is… negative B squared plus/minus-"

"10th!" Gokudera-kun came bounding towards me, happy as ever. "The test next period should be a snap, right?"

"Er…" I wasn't really sure about how I should respond. I didn't even know that there was a test until now!

"Oi, Tsuna!" Yamamoto waved. "Good morning!"

"Good morning," I said, glad for the distraction.

"Oi! No-good Tsuna!" SMACK!

"R-Reborn!" I shouted. "Wh-what are y-"

Reborn smiled. "I am your tutor, why should I not be doing this?"

"N-normal tutors don't hit their pupils from out of nowhere!"

He pointed a gun at me. "Do you think that it's normal for people to be the heirs of the most prestigious Mafia Family in the world? Why would you have a normal tutor?"

I sighed. Why does this always have to happen to me?

X

Let's see… if Y is ten, the X should be… no, I messed up! I used positive two instead of negative! How could this get any worse…?

"The test will end in five minutes." [1]

I hit my head on the desk.

"Just kidding."

I let out a sigh of relief. Mr. Shiro always did stuff like this…

No! No! Concentrate! What was that formula that Reborn taught me? X… Y… Y equals… B? No!

There's no way I can do this… but if I don't, R-Reborn will…

X

I peered at the score. Fifty? Fifty percent? Oh no, Reborn is going to kill me… Or force me to study. Not much difference there…

"10th!" Gokudera-kun bounded towards me. "How was the test?"

I began to sweat. There's no way I could tell anyone about this…

BING! BING! BING! BING! The bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto-kun called. "Let's walk home together!"

"Grr…" Gokudera growled. Oh, no, not another fight…

"That won't be necessary," a voice called.

"R-Reborn!" I trembled. Did he find out about my test score already? "H-"

"Tsuna and I need to talk," he said. Was that… a government worker's suit? Without an explanation, he grabbed my hand and- OW! My- my wrist! "Come on." He dragged me outside.

"Oi! Sawada!" Ryohei called.

"Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko-chan was walking next to him.

"Kyoko! O-nii-san!"

"Haru and I are going-" Kyoko began, but Reborn passed them by.

"No time," he protested as he tugged harder. "There's something I need to tell you about."

I-It's not about my test score?

"Your grade can wait, this is too important!"

He… found out? "B-but what's so important?!"

Reborn smiled. "You're finally starting to grow a spine, talking back to me like that." POW! "This should have taken place much later in your training, but the opportunity was too good."

"Tsuna. Your rite of passage is coming."

X

"M-my rite of passage?" Don't tell me it's a murder! Or embezzlement! Or anything-

"Many years ago," Reborn ploughed over me, "before the Vongola was formed, the Mafia group Cibatta took control of several provinces in Italy by kidnapping a certain government official. It then became a rite of passage in the Mafia to kidnap the descendants of that man, all of whom became officials. Of course, it no longer gave us power over five provinces like the Cibatta got, but it's a mark of prestige." (Cibatta is a kind of Italian bread)

"A… rite of passage?" I repeated. Only the Mafia would have such a thing… or the Yakuza.

"Yes," nodded Reborn. "The official's name was not put on any record, strangely enough. All we know is that his last name was Vargas, and that he was extremely influential. He was close to many high-ranking officials up in the high circle of government. His descendants live on, the twins Feliciano and Lovino Vargas. You will be kidnapping Lovino, the elder, who is more involved with the Mafia."

"And… why do I have to do this?!" I shouted. Why do I have to deal with the Mafia? I don't want Xanxus to rule, but that doesn't mean I want to be the boss!

"It is compulsory for the Vongola heir," Reborn said simply. "Other Families have their subordinates help, but you're doing this alone."

"Eh?!"

"Unless there is a need for it," he continued. "My sources tell me that the official's descendents arrived in Japan yesterday for a meeting. The meeting isn't set to take place for another two weeks, but I don't know where it is or even what it is, so you won't be kidnapping him there."

He skidded to a halt. "This is where he's staying. He called in a friend for protection, so here he is."

"E-eh?!" Th-this is…

X (Romano POV, a few days earlier)

I muttered another curse in Italian. The next World Meeting's at Japan's house? Fratello wouldn't have a problem with that, he's friendly with Japan. I used to be, but that's not the point. The tenth generation Volgola boss is there. And since the Vongola came from the South, I was the one to be kidnapped [2]. Being descended from one of my citizens allowed me to know who he is immediately after just looking at him, but that was it. I couldn't tell what his abilities were, besides the Hyper Intuition which I already knew he had, and what I could glean from Japan.

"He is strong," he had said as soon as I found out we were going to his house. "But… why do you want to know about one of my citizens?"

I left without saying anything else. He has nothing to do with this. I could go there just before the meeting and leave as quickly as possible, but the tickets were more expensive for those flights. Fratello and I were still suffering from the Euro crisis…

"**Dam it, Spain. Why did you have to convert to the Euro**?!" I yelled out loud in Latin, much to the surprise of the other people on the street. Here in Italy, I couldn't speak Italian or Spanish because it was too similar, whenever I wanted to shout. So, I had to settle for Latin, Grandpa's language… Wait a minute…

Spain had a café in Japan, right? He shared it with Sweden and… that krau-

"Oi! Romano!" Spain's armed wrapped around me. "I hear the next meeting is in Japan, right?"

THWUNK! I flipped him over my shoulder. "Y-you-" I bit back my anger. "S-Spain…" I began. "I… you owe me, bas- J- I need-"

"You need my help?" smiled Spain, still sprawled on the ground from my little judo trick.

"S-si…" I admitted.

He got up, suddenly serious. "It's the mafia again, isn't it."

I nodded. "Another one of their kidnapping stunts." I spat. "When will they finally stop troubling me? Ever since that Cibatta guy, they keep on kidnapping me. I had to fake my death at least thirty times AND change my name! Even fratello… he has to suffer because of my organization. [3]"

"And if you told them our secret, there would be a civil war over you," said Spain.

I nodded grimly "You have a café in Japan, right? Can… can fratello and I stay there while we're in Japan?"

He put his hand on my head. "Of course."

"Spain…"

GLOMP.

"L-let go of me!"

"Ah, Romano! You're so cute when you're begging for help!"

THUM! I threw him over my shoulder again. "Y-you… are you some kind of sick pervert or something?! I knew it when you pulled my curl! You're also a ped-"

"You're so cute when you're angry, too!"

CRACK! "Y-you-"

X (Back to Tsuna)

"Th-this is a café?" I asked. "V-Vargas is in here?"

Reborn nodded. "Go in."

WHAM! He kicked me through the open door. When I looked up- "YAAA!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] The teacher joking about the time limit- my teacher used to do that. We'd be doing the unit test, and he'd say "Five more minutes" when I was on, say, question ten.

[2] I have no idea where the Vongola originated from, North or South. South moves the plot along more.

[3] Romano saying the Mafia is his- the Mafia originated from Sicily, in the South.

Note- to prevent any confusion, the first official kidnapped was Romano.

What is Tsuna going to do? What will the others do? And how long can this run?

Okay, it was a bit short. But I'm working on the next…


	2. Chapter 2

Note- even though this is Japan, and they are speaking Japanese, characters still retain the same accents as they would in English.

This takes place after the Ring Battle arc, but before the Future arc.

Chapter 2 (Tsuna POV)

"YAAAA!" I screamed. Th-this guy… he's terrifying! Even with glasses… and… tall…

"What is your order?" he asked in an accent I couldn't identify. My Hyper-Intuition was acting up like crazy… he must be really strong or dangerous.

"Ah…" I peered over his shoulder. "Ch-chocolate cake, please."

He walked off. Now that I wasn't looking at him, I realized that he wasn't a bad person… just… scary…

"Eh! Tsuna-kun!"

"Oi! Tsuna!"

I looked over to the next table and gaped. "Kyoko-chan! Haru! Wh-what are you doing here?"

Both on them smiled. "Today's the day we go out and eat cake!" Kyoko called. "This shop opened just last week, so Haru and I decided to check it out!"

"Come sit with us! The owner is **dangerous** (she said this in English), but he's good at making cake and-"

"My wife made the cake," the owner called out of nowhere.

"YAAA!" I screamed. Was this the friend Reborn told me about? He was so scary I couldn't get a word in at all! If he really was protecting Vargas, he's doing a good job!

"I am not the owner, either," he added. "I share this café with two other people. I only run it on Mondays and Fridays. Tomorrow, someone else will be here. I can also speak English, and I am not dangerous."

"Puyi!" Haru squealed. "Y-you do?"

He nodded stoically. "Here are your orders," he set three plates on the table, and three cups of-

"E-excuse me… y-you gave all of us coffee… I didn't order-" I stuttered, but Haru beat me to it.

"We didn't order coffee either!" she asserted.

The waiter just… stood there. "It's free."

Oh… "Th-thank you…"

He nodded. "Most people take the coffee without saying anything, so they do not have to pay."

… Eh? "H-how does that work?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I do not know. But you did not try to cheat me, even when you could have. You three are good people."

W-was this… a test? D-did Vargas want to see how I would react? He must be better than I thought…

Creak… A new person entered the shop. Light-haired and baby-faced, my intuition told me that he was a nice person… but my Hyper-Intuition told me that he wasn't weak.

The waiter put his arm around him. Now that he was right next to another person, I really saw how tall he was. "This is my wife."

… What? Did he just say…? "H-he's…"

"M' w'fe," he repeated.

His wife…?

"Hyvää päivää," the waiter's wife said nervously. (Good day in Finnish). "My name is Tino, and this is Berwald…"

His voice… he was male after all… I decided to eat my cake with Kyoko-chan and Haru without pressing the matter. To pass the time, I listened to their conversation

"So, this is what happened to Naruto-kun?" asked Kyoko.

"Hai!" said Haru. "He ended up with Rukia-chan!" [1]

As much as I liked the both of them, I couldn't listen to them for long. To occupy myself, I looked at the decorations. The entire café was made of wood, and there were a few coffee machines on the counter. There was a large flag covering most of one wall, a Nordic cross on blue- The Swedish flag. On another wall, a large axe hung. These decorations were… well, weird, but authentic-looking.

"G-goodbye," I said when we had finished off our cake. Berwald waved at us as we left. As nice as he was, he's still creepy…

X

"So you didn't capture him after all," Reborn said. "Since it's closed now, you'll have to do it again tomorrow."

"10th!" Gokudera-kun shouted, clambering into my room from the patio. From the looks of it, he climbed up here from the ground.

"G-Gokudera-kun!" I shouted. "Y-you…?"

"10th! I heard about this 'Lovino Vargas' guy and I'm here to help!" he yelled with vigor. "Tomorrow, we've going to do this!"

His hand caught fire. "W-wah! G-Gokudera-kun! Y-your hand!"

"Eh?" the fire went out. On closer inspection, it was his rings that were on fire. [2]

"N-never mind…" I said. "B-by the way… the cake there was really good… what kind do you think Mom would like?"

"Did someone say cake!?" Lambo came bursting into the room. "Lambo-san wants some!"

"Y-you stupid cow!" Gokudera-kun began to shake him up and down.

"G-Gokudera-kun! S-stop it!" I said.

"Yes, 10th!"

"No, let him have it," said Reborn. "Idiots should get what they deserve."

R-Reborn… always so Spartan… "And you, Tsuna."

"Y-yes?"

"Quit acting so spineless," he said. THWACK! Was that… a soccer ball? "I heard that you got a fifty on that last math test. You have to bring up that grade of yours. We're going to study until Midnight."

E-eh?! Not again…

X

"Oi! 10th!" called Gokudera. "School's out, let's go to that café!"

"H-hai!"

"Oi, Sawada!"

"O-Onii-chan!" Kyoko-chan's brother?!

"I heard from Kyoko that you went to a café without me!" he roared. "I EXTREMELY can't take this lying down!"

Gokudera-kun leaned in forward threateningly, dynamite in hand. "I won't let you say such things to the 10th-"

"N-no, it's okay," I said. "We're going there right now, so we'll take you, too!"

"THANKS TO THE EXTREME!"

I sweatdropped. Onii-chan was as enthusiastic as ever…

X

"We're here, boss!" Gokudera-kun yelled out loud, much to the surprise of the people crowding around us in the street.

"Wait, Gokudera-kun… it looks a little different…" I said. Something about this place was different from before… I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Who cares? I just want to go in TO THE EXTREME!" Onii-chan roared.

The door opened, making a bell ring. "Hola!" someone inside called. "You're customers? That's just awesome!"

Without another word, he dragged us all in. "You know, I haven't had many customers since I opened up. But that's okay, since you're here!" he said in one breath, grinning. He seemed just like Yamamoto…. His 'r's were pronounced in a different way… it sounded… Spanish.

"Y-you aren't the guy I saw yesterday!" I said.

He stopped dragging us, but he still had a huge grin on his face. "Oh yeah, every day we switch who runs this place! Isn't that just awes-"

"Verwenden Sie nicht das Wort für niemanden außer für mich!" an angry, aggressive voice called. (Do not use that word for anyone except for me!)

"¡Lo siento! Qué palabra está usted hablando?" (Sorry, which word are you talking about?)

"Do not use ze vord awesome vhen you are not describing me!" The voice called in a thick German accent.

"Sorry!" the perpetually cheerful guy called. "So, I have churros, paella, tomatoes, tomato sauce, leftover pasta, tomato juice, tomato paste, fried tomatoes, and tomato-"

"Shut up!" Gokudera-kun shouted.

"Eh?" he said, genuinely confused. "What did I say wrong?"

"You're hiding-"

"C-calm down, Gokudera-kun!" I said. I leaned in. "I don't think he knows," I whispered. "My Hyper Intuition doesn't detect any signs of slyness."

"Eh?" the guy continued innocently. "So, what's your order?"

"Uh…" I couldn't recognize anything he said besides tomatoes… "Paella?" I asked lamely.

"Okay!" he said. "What about you two?"

"P-pasta…" said Gokudera. I was surprised that he wasn't at his throat like he was with Yamamoto. Maybe it's because it didn't seem like he was trying to take the place of my right-hand man.

"I would like to have some churros to the EXTREME!" Onii-chan yelled.

The guy smiled some more. "I'll be ready with your food, so just sit tight, si?"

"Hai," I said. This guy… he really seemed like a good person. My Hyper Intuition wasn't acting up in a negative way at all. He didn't even seem to be that strong… [3]

He dashed into a back room, and came back almost immediately. "Oh yeah, I wanted to show you this," he said while holding on to a shirt with-

"'Why don't you just shut up- King'," read Gokudera.

"I wanted to show this to Hugo Chaves after my bo- king told him to shut up!" he said cheerfully. "I ordered a whole bunch of them so that I could sell them here, in Japan!"

"Uh… okay…" I said.

"Hey, what's your shirt size?" he asked. "I really need to sell these, I'm almost bankrupt!"

"X…" as nice as he was, this guy sure is a pushy salesman!

"Y, TO THE EXTREME!"

"I'm also size X!"

He ran to the back of the store and grabbed a few more T-shirts. "I'll add this to your bill, so no worries, si?" Yet again, he ran to the back room of the shop. There were some sizzling noises, and a microwave beeping. "Sorry that took so long," he said when he came back, holding three plates.

"Th-this pasta…" Gokudera said after eating it. "It-it's… delicious…"

"You like it?" the guy asked. "Ita-chan made it last night."

"Y-you mean… this is leftover food?" Gokudera asked, but he was still eating it.

"Hey, the economy back home's been pretty bad lately, so I just had to cut a few corners," he said.

I looked over at the decorations. "H-hey… wasn't there a different flag over there?"

Instead of the Swedish flag, the Spanish flag hung on the wall. Other than that, there was hardly any difference in the decoration. Even the axe was in the exact same spot... "Like I said, I had to cut a few corners," the guy said, less cheerfully. "But Sve said that as long as the flag is different, then no one would notice…"

Well, that was actually a good idea… "But who's Sve?"

"The guy who was running the shop yester day. We just call him Sve as a nickname," he said, eating a tomato like an apple.

"THESE CHURROS ARE EXTREMELY GOOD!" Onii-san yelled.

The guy smiled even more. "¡gracias, I made it myself!" Before any of us could react, he asked, "Can I touch you?"

"Uh…" this guy was a foreigner, no matter how good his Japanese was. I guess I shouldn't offend him… "Okay?"

"Great!" he said, and- glomped me…

SMACK! Someone new entered the café, holding a bag of groceries in each hand. He hit the cheerful guy with one plastic bag. "Oi, Antonio," he said irritably. "Quit harassing underage boys, you damn pe-"

"Ah, Roma-chan!" Antonio cried, and glomped him.

Roma-chan, or whatever his name was, threw Antonio over his shoulder. "Y-you…" instead of yelling, he gave him a 'Let's talk about this later' look, and stormed upstairs. Was it just me, or did he seem nervous?

"Don't worry, he's always like that," said Antonio, still as cheerful as ever. "Now, I only have instant coffee, because of the bad economy, but it should do the trick."

"O-okay…" I said, and he began to make coffee.

"Psst, 10th!" whispered Gokudera-kun. "Do you know how much he's charging us for this?"

"Uh…" that's right, he never said anything about how much it cost. But my Hyper Intuition didn't sense anything…

"Here's your coffee!" called Antonio.

"T-Thank you…" I said, and accepted the coffee.

"Well, we had better get going," said Gokudera. As we got up and walked out, he whispered to me, "If we don't have any leads, there's no point in staying. Plus, did that guy say 'underage boys'?" he shuddered.

"H-hai…" I said. Come to think of it, how did Reborn expect me to capture Lovino Vargas?

Antonio rushed to the counter and said, "Your total comes to XXX yen, si?"

"I'll pay, 10th!" volunteered Gokudera-kun. Antonio stiffened up ever so slightly… I wondered if I was the only one who noticed. He accepted the money, and waved at us as we walked out. [4]

"GOODBYE TO THE EXTREME!" Onii-san roared as he approached his house. "Shouldn't you be going on home too, Gokudera?"

Gokudera turned to one side. "I will escort the 10th home, he said.

Gokudera-kun… he's so loyal… "Arigato, Gokudera-kun."

"Anything for the 10th!" he called out.

SMACK! "You didn't succeed, Dame-Tsuna," said Reborn. "But since it was my fault, I won't hurt you any more than I already have."

He showed me a photograph in his hand. "This, Tsuna, is Lovino Vargas."

It was the guy who hit Antonio.

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Naruto and Rukia ending up together… Oh, wait! I can't tell you that! It's the main spoiler for both Naruto and Bleach.

[2] Gokudera's rings on fire- Dying Will Flames. Strong resolve, has a ring, they ignite. Just an Easter Egg…

[3] Spain being weak- Have you seen the economy? He's strong when he can be, though…

[4] I originally had a scene with Lambo coming in and yelling that he wants cake, and Spain hugging him. But I thought that it would have been a bit too perverted for the rating, so I cut it.

Who's the next café owner? How will the Volgola react? And will Romano be able to dodge them so easily next time?


	3. Chapter 3

This should be good. This is going to go into an actual plot real quick, so hang on tight!

Note- this won't be run over by my editor. [Gender undisclosed] does not know much about KHR, so I decided to spare [gender undisclosed] the trouble.

Chapter 3

"That's the guy who hit Antonio!" I shouted. He's the official? He's so young! Yes, I was also young to inherit the Vongola, but a government job required all sorts of things… like education, previous experience… and a lot of work. I was forced into it because I was descended from Primo, with no actual qualifications.

Reborn nodded. "And I was putting so much stock into your Hyper Intuition. You failed me, Tsuna."

SMACK! "B-But you just said that you weren't going to-"

CRASH! "Don't be such a wimp. Now, tomorrow there will be one last guard to get past. He is strong, but this shouldn't be a problem for the Vongola tenth."

X

"This is our last shot, 10th!" cried Gokudera-kun. "We're going to capture Lovino Vargas at any cost!"

"Excuse me, Gokudera-san," said Shiro-sensei. "Class isn't over for another ten minutes."

"Rgh," Gokudera-kun sat down. There's never any point in arguing with Shiro-sensei, and Gokudera-kun knew it.

"Now, since there is only ten minutes until the bell, please feel free to talk to your neighbors." Shiro-sensei… he's always like this.

"Oi, Tsuna!" Yamamoto-kun called. "I hear you're going to this coffee shop that just opened up! Can I come?"

"Er…"

"Of course not, Baseball Nut!" yelled Gokudera-kun

"It's okay…" I said. "The more, the merrier, right?"

"Great!" said Yamamoto. "Let's go!"

"Class is still technically in session, Yamamoto-san," said Shiro-sensei. "In five, four, three, two, one…"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! "Ah, that's my popcorn. I have no idea when the bell will ring, but-" RING RING RING! "There it is. You're free to go, Yamamoto-san."

Yamamoto-kun grabbed my arm and Gokudera's, and dragged us out of the classroom. "Come on!"

"W-wait, do you even know where this café is?" I asked.

"Nope! But-"

"Midori tanabiku namimori no…" began a high-pitched voice. Hibird! But if it's here, then-

"Where are you going?" H-Hibari! "Herbivores."

"What's it to y-" Gokudera-kun began, but I stopped him.

"H-he'll kill us if you say anything else," I said, and backed off.

Hibari let us pass, but then asked, "Have you heard of the new café in town?"

I blanched. "H-hai…"

"We're going there!" Yamamoto-kun smiled.

"Hm… Don't go there," said Hibari.

"Why you…" Gokudera-kun fumed, but I held him back again. "We're going there no matter what you say! You can't boss us around!"

Hibari regarded us coldly. "Then don't get in my way. There is someone in the café who I must defeat… at all costs."

I shuddered. That guy… I'm worried about him…

"Oh, and don't come within ten meters of me until we get there. Or else…"

I gulped. Hibari-san was as scary as ever…

X

"HERE WE ARE, 10th!" barked Gokudera-kun.

"Hmph," Hibari strode in as soon as we came within ten meters, as promised. Well, he's Hibari. The three of us followed him into the shop, and-

"VELCOME TO ZE CAFÉ DU PAIN! [1] YOU ARE LATE UND VILL BE TREATED VITH CONTEMPT!"

"E-eh?!" I said, startled. The guy who seemed to be in charge was, well, clearly German. His accent was incredibly pronounced. There was a large German flag where the Spanish and Swedish flags were before. And he was wearing what looked like German military uniform… Yeah, he's German.

Hibari strode past him, but the German man grabbed his shoulder. "Vhere do you sink you are going?" he asked stoically. "No customers are allowed up zere."

"Hmph," said Hibari, and pushed him back.

"PIIII!" Hibird fluttered through the open window and began flying around Hibari.

THWACK! A-another Hibird!? It flew in from an open window and charged into Hibari's bird. "Kesese~~!" it made a weird laugh as it attacked Hibird. Hibird, however, wasn't going down without a fight.

The German man looked at Hibird, and then at the other bird. "Vhy do have a bird zat looks like bruder's?"

Hibari didn't grace him with a reply. "Where is your brother?" he asked.

"Vhy should I tell-"

WHAM! A man with silver hair and red eyes slammed open the door, and shouted, "SUCK IT, LOSERS! ZE AWESOME ME IS HERE TO-"

Thwish! Hibari's tonfa were out in an instant, and he aimed a swift blow at the red-eyed man. Incredibly, he dodged within a hair's breadth. "Kesese~ you sought zat zat vould vork?"

Hibari smirked. "So you are a tough opponent."

"Und you are ze vone who also has a cute little bird who perches in your hair?" asked the albino.

"You too?" asked Hibari.

"My AWESOME Gilbird can drink two cans of beer vithout passing out!" bragged the new guy. I now saw that he was wearing a military uniform similar to the German man's, except it was blue instead of green.

"His name is Gilbert," explained the German man. "Zat is vhy he named his bird Gilbird."

"Hibird can sing the Nanimori school anthem," said Hibari.

"Oh yeah? Well, Gilbird can lift a zweihänder on his own! He carries it for me!"

What's a… zweihänder? "Hibird can send SOS messages," said Hibari.

POOF! A magpie appeared out of nowhere. "Oh yeah?" it said. Why was it talking? "Well, I can distort reality!"

The next moment, Leon was kissing… "10th, why are Leon and Enzo touching mouths?" asked Gokudera-kun. "Reborn's not here and Dino's in Italy!"

"Und why I am vearing a dress?!" Gilbert shouted.

"Vhy am I five years old again!?" shouted the German man… now German kid.

"10th! You're wearing traditional Hungarian clothing!" shouted Gokudera-kun, who was-

"I didn't know you were a Final Fantasy cosplayer!" said Yamamoto-kun. "You look just like Tidus!"

"Look at yourself!" said Gokudera-kun furiously. "You're a girl!"

Wait… Yamamoto-kun was female now! He- no, SHE, had her hair long in a ponytail wearing a baseball uniform…

"Hmph," said Hibari, who refused to speak.

"Something must have happened to you," said Gilbert.

Hibari remained silent.

"If you do not say vhat, I will make a rule saying zat you vill run around ze streets naked!"

"Užsičiaupk."

"Wh-what did he say?" I asked.

"Sakiau, užsičiaupti," said Hibari. (A/N **I said, shut up**)

"He told you to shut up," translated the German boy. "Vhy do I have a sudden urge to kiss a five-year-old maid girl?"

"KESESESE~ He can only speak Lithuanian!" shouted Gilbert.

"I told you I could distort reality!" shouted the magpie, which had a wizard's hat on. "I am the author!" POOF! It vanished, making the world right again. [2]

"That was…" I started.

"A weird cameo made by the author in a vain attempt to be creative?" finished Gokudera-kun.

"ZANTETSUKEN REVERSE!" shouted Gilbert. "You did not say vhat I am going to do next like last time!"

POOF! "You get appearances in all the fics-"

"Vhat about 'Ginny Veasley und ze Final Fantasy'?"

"That was before I knew about Hetalia," said the magpie. "And when's the last time that got updated?"

"'Ze man of 42 seconds later?'"

"It deals with the muggle Prime Minister and Iggy, there's no room for you," it said. "I have nothing more to say here." POOF! It vanished.

"Hmph," said Hibari. "Now that that thing is gone, let's resume our conversation."

"Kesese~ you bet!" laughed Gilbert. "Vhen vords fail, all zat is left is var!"

"ENOUGH!" shouted the German man. "Bruder, if you vant to fight, do it outside."

Gilbert sighed. "Fine, Vest… hey, kid… vhat is your name?"

"Kyoya. Kyoya Hibari." Hibari actually replied? This guy must really have his respect…

"Vell, Kyoya, I know a place vhere ve can fight," said Gilbert. Kyoya?! That's Hibari's FIRST name! [3] Does this guy have no idea how things are done in Japan?

"A-hem," said the German man. "You came here to eat, ja?"

"H-hai…" I said nervously. He really was overbearing…

"Ze menu includes-"

WHAM! Gokudera-kun slammed his fist onto the table. "Cut the crap," he said fiercely. "We know you're hiding Lovino Vargas."

The German man was blank. "Lovino? He is here, but vhy vould I hide him…?"

Gokudera-kun grabbed Yamamoto-kun and I and whispered, "On my signal, run through that door."

"E-eh?"

BOOM! Gokudera-kun threw a stick of dynamite, and it exploded in the man's face. "GO!" Gokudera-kun dragged both of us up out of our seats, and together we barged in through the door. "Lead us, 10th!" he cried as the German was stunned.

"Vhy do you have dynamite?!" he shouted, still coughing through the smoke. I was too terrified to answer, instead running down a flight of steps with Yamamoto and Gokudera in tow.

"Hallå."

"AAAAAH!" all three of us screamed at the sight of the Swedish man. He looked like he was carving something out of wood.

"S-Sorry!" I shouted as we ran back up the steps. Somehow, we ran up another flight of steps, where there was a hallway. We took the first door on the right, which was-

"AAAH!" we all screamed again.

"AAAH!" the person in the room screamed. H-he was naked! I mean, there was a towel covering everything up, but- wait, it's a room entirely made of wood, it's hot, there's a fire and steam and water…

"HOW DO YOU GET A SAUNA IN A CAFÉ?!" I shouted.

The Swedish man's wife screamed something that I assumed to be Swedish, and slammed the door shut. [4]

"GET BACK HERE!" shouted the German man.

"RUN!" I shouted, and we opened the next door-

WHISH! Knives whirled from the room, tacking neatly into the opposite wall. Phew… thank goodness my Hyper Intuition got us to duck in time! "Oi, Tsuna, why does it spell 'AWESOME'?" asked Yamamoto. I couldn't read what it spelled, but I took his word for it.

"No time!" shouted Gokudera-kun. We ran into the next room, where-

"HEY! This is a bathroom!" a kid in a sailor suit shouted from the toilet.

"Sorry!" I replied, and shut the door. This was a very complicated building…

I opened another door, which led to a dark room. I couldn't see anything!

_Click_. The lights! "Thought you might need them, 10th."

"Arigato, Gokudera-k-"

Someone yawned. Wait… this was someone's bedroom! The Spanish man from yesterday was sleeping in the bed. He looked at us, and smiled. "¡Buenas tardes!" he said, smiling. This guy… he must be crazy to smile when someone intruded on his bedroom.

"Ve?" someone else sat up, his eyes still closed. He looked just like Lovino Vargas… except for a few details. "You're here already?"

"You were expecting us?" asked Yamamoto-kun.

"V-VE!" he shrieked. "N-no, w-we weren't…"

"H-he's right," said the Spanish man.

…They're both horrible liars. "Oh," said Yamamoto-kun. He bowed. "Sorry for intruding on your time."

"Idiot!" shouted Gokudera-kun. "They're lying! It's obvious!"

"V-ve~?!"

"HEY!" the German man bellowed. I forgot all about him! "You come in here, talk about Lovino, und zen you barge in?! Vhat kind of people re you?!"

"Ve~ Ludwig!" the Vargas-look-alike hugged the German man.

The German man pushed him aside lightly. "Not now, Feliciano," he said. "But vhy do you vant to see Lovino? You could haf asked…"

"Oh, right," said the Spanish man. "Lo siento, I forgot to tell you." He then jabbered rapidly in Spanish, moving his arms around like crazy, which the German man seemed to understand. "That's what happened."

"Oh," he said. "Zen, vhere is Lovino?"

Feliciano and the Spanish man tried hard not to look at the bed. "He's in the bed, I can see how hard you're trying not to look at it," I said.

Gokudera-kun took this as a signal, and grabbed the sheets- CRACK! "Ugh…" he groaned. Lovino Vargas was under the covers, and had kicked Gokudera-kun in the chest.

"I'm awake," he said irritably. "I can't avoid you, can I?"

"Why were you in bed with two other guys?" asked Yamamoto-kun.

Lovino was taken aback for a second, but then replied scathingly, "It was Antonio's idea. _Fratello_ just came in on his own. But that's not the point!"

"Oh, right… I have to kidnap you?" I said. Fratello? That means that Feliciano is Lovino's twin… Reborn did mention he had a twin brother, after all.

"You thought I would just let you waltz in and kidnap me?" spat Lovino. "I invoke the right of inter-family duel!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Café du pain- that's what I heard in the dub. It makes sense.

[2] The magpie- in chapter 34 of _Arthur Kirkland, United Kingdom, Pirate_, a magpie appeared as my avatar.

[3] Prussia and Kyoya- Prussia would probably be the type to refer to someone as their first name in Japan with no honorifics, something insulting for someone he is not close to.

[4] Finland speaking Swedish- Tsuna did not know he was Finnish. All he knew was that Sweden was Swedish.

I know that Italy goes to have a siesta without any pants, but I decided that if Spain and Romano were to be in the same bedroom, they could either share a bed with pants on, or be in separate beds without pants. I am not a Yaoi writer, and I don't want this fic's rating to go too far up.

What is this duel Romano is talking about? How will this impact the plot? And what about Prussia and Hibari?


	4. Chapter 4

I have to admit, inter-house duel is a lame name. But, I was a bit rushed on the name. Plus, it's not much better in Italian, so that wasn't an option. I could have made Romano say, "I challenge you to a duel," but that would mean that it would be just him and Tsuna.

I wonder what you could get away with if you could make illusions… *hands a blank sheet of paper to a cashier and pays for a large amount of groceries* *makes an illusion so that you can watch TV when the power's out* *makes a fence outside the house that isn't really there* *change the color of bedroom walls without actually painting*

Chapter 4 (Tsuna POV)

An inter-family duel? "Wh-what's an-"

"AN INTER-FAMILY DUEL!?" shouted Gokudera-kun. "The Vongola hasn't had an official one since the Vongola Ottavo, Daniela!"

Lovino Vargas nodded, and turned to me. "You want to know the rules, Vongola Decimo?" he said with such contempt that I almost stepped back. He knew that I was the tenth?

"H-hai…" I said meekly.

He rummaged through a leather bag that I didn't see before, and retrieved a worn sheet of paper. "Uh…" he expected me to read this?! There wasn't a single recognizable-

"Ve~ Fratello, it's in Italian," said Feliciano, looking over my shoulder. "I'll translate."

"Arigato," I thanked him.

"Ve~ 'When two families reach a disagreement but are unable or unwilling to settle it the traditional way'-"

"Traditional?" I repeated.

"He means a gunfight," answered Gokudera-kun. "Or a turf war, or…"

"I get the idea," I said, sweadropping.

"'Then both families will participate in a duel or tournament of sorts, where six members from each family, in addition to the boss, will fight one-on-one'," Feliciano Vargas continued. "Ve~ that's all it says!"

Lovino stepped up. "Additionally, it once the challenge is carried out, there is no refusing, and neither side is allowed to fight outside of the Duel."

"But you're not even in the mafia!" shouted Gokudera-kun.

"But you can make your own, right?" said Yamamoto-kun cluelessly. He still thinks it's a game? The Spanish man was quiet, but he seemed to emit a darker and harsher aura…

"It says 'family'," pointed out Lovino. "It is not specified whether it is a mafia family, a biological family, or even a 'group of friends' family. In one week's time, I will gather all my family, and…" he paused. "Is one week okay? I mean, most of my family isn't in Japan right now, so we'll have to wait until- do you have anything next week?"

"No, nothing except for school…" I said, glad that this conversation had taken a more normal turn.

"How's nine o'clock for you?"

"That's my bedtime, but I can explain to my mom."

"Then it's settled," he said. "The Cervello should arrive at your place by tomorrow, so try not to be surprised by a pink-haired woman in your house."

"Eh!?" The Cervello? "Aren't they-"

"They actually arrange all the duels in the mafia world," said Lovino Vargas. "As long as both of us sign here-" he presented another slip of paper from his bag, "then they'll come."

"Th-that's kind of stalker-ish, isn't it?" I asked.

He sighed. "I know, it's so-" he said something that I couldn't recognize- "annoying."

BOOM! A Cervello came bursting into the room, followed by the kid we saw in the bathroom, the Swedish man, and the Swedish man's 'wife'. Each of them was carrying a weapon of some sort, the kid with a whole bunch of guns, the Swedish man with a large axe, and his 'wife' also wielding an axe. The Swedish man's wife shouted something in Swedish.

"Stop speaking Swedish!" shouted Gokudera-kun.

He stopped, and said in clear Japanese, "That was Finnish, actually. I'm Finnish, not Swedish."

Oh… "So, you're here again?" asked Yamamoto-kun to the Cervello woman.

She barely gave him a nod. "I am here to acknowledge the signing of the Inter-Family Duel between the Vongola 10th and Lovino Vargas."

"Ve~ I thought you only came in pairs," said Feliciano. "Where's the other girl?"

She didn't answer him, but the kid with the guns looked embarrassed. "So what if I'm trigger happy when some unfamiliar person comes sneaking in through the window?!" he shouted. Who let him have guns? Then again, Lambo has grenades…

"You're here early," commented Lovino casually.

"It's part of the job," she replied ambiguously. "Just sign the paper."

I did, and so did Lovino. He signed it rapidly in unrecognizable script (I later learned that it was cursive [1]), and said, "Done."

She picked it up. "The first match will be tomorrow," she said.

"What?!" all of us shouted at the same time, except for the German man, who said "Vhat?!"

"I said, the first match will be tomorrow," she said. "The matches are based on the Role of the Guardian. As always, the Sky match will be last."

"W-wait," said Lovino. "Most of my family's not here yet…"

She gave him a look. "We had to move your match ahead of schedule, because of another dispute between the-" she paused. "You do not need to know who. But because of your matches being moved, we decided that it would be more efficient to arrange the matches based on who is accessible at the time, and then arrange the timetable so that they have enough time to come."

Lovino let out a sigh of relief. "So then the others won't be disqualified for not being here."

The Cervello woman handed him another sheet of paper. "Just write the names of the people who are your guardians, and which alignment they are…"

Lovino gave a 'hold on a minute' gesture. He, his twin, the Swede, the Finn, the German, the Spaniard, and the kid all ran into a closet. I vaguely heard the sound of a cell phone calling someone several times, and some whispering. Finally, they all came out, and Lovino scribbled something on the paper. "There."

The Cervello nodded. "Meet at the school at eight o'clock tomorrow night. The first match will be- Storm!"

X

"… So that's what happened," I finished. Me, Chrome, and Onii-san were in my room, where I was explaining what happened. I caught Chrome shopping for food at the market, and I called Onii-san over by phone. I was obligated to call Hibari, but he didn't answer his cell so I left a message explaining almost everything and promised to tell him when the Cloud match was.

"So it's just like the Ring battles?" asked Chrome. "Boss?"

"Sounds EXTREME!" roared Onii-san.

"Hai, hai," I said, trying to calm him down. "But this time we don't get a chance to train. The Storm fight's tomorrow!"

SMACK! A… giant mallet? "You idiot," said Reborn. "Why didn't stop Vargas from initiating the Duel? Now you have to win the Duel, or else you'll never be able to kidnap him again!"

"Eh!?" all three of us shouted.

Reborn produced a sheet of paper from somewhere. "This is a translated original transcript of the Rite's rules," he said. "It turns out that 'the losing party from ever again endeavoring to achieve what the conflict was instigated for'…"

"I NEED A TRANSLATION TO THE EXTREME!" shouted Onii-san.

"Boss… if he can't win the Duel, he can't try to pass his rite ever again," said Chrome.

"B-but what about his twin?" I asked rationally. "Feliciano Vargas, right? He translated the rules for us! The rite is for me to kidnap the descendant of the official-"

SMACK! "Don't be such a wimp, Tsuna," said Reborn. "Besides, the descendants of the official always seem to come in twins, so that's already been tried. There's a rule against trying to kidnap the second brother…"

He broke off. "Why are they always twins?" he asked himself. "And there's never any record of the official's name, or who his wife was."

"Maybe they didn't think he was important enough," I suggested. "But why would they always have the same job over generations?"

"Who cares!?" roared Onii-san. "As long as my match comes up, I'm burning with passion to the EXTREME!"

"Don't get your hopes up," said Reborn. "I heard from my sources that the Sun Guardian isn't even in Japan yet."

Onii-chan looked disappointed, but he perked up instantly. "THEN I WILL TRAIN! TRAIN TO THE EXTREME, ALL OF US!"

I sweatdropped. I swear, Onii-san can really be overreactive…

"LET'S GO! ONE HUNDRED PUSH-UPS AND A TEN KILOMETER RUN!"

X

Exhausted, I collapsed into bed. How could Onii-san do this kind of training every day? Chrome managed to survive, since she was permitted to train lighter, but she fell asleep halfway though and I had to drag her home. I wondered what kind of people Vargas's guardians were as I lay on my soft bed. They could be anyone in the café, like the Spaniard, the German and his brother, the Swede, the Finn, his brother, heck, maybe even the kid with the guns! But the Storm guardian… who could it be?

X (the next day)

"Mom, I have to go," I said on the night of the fist battle.

Mom looked up from her magazine. "Where to, Tsuna?"

"Uh…" Mom didn't know about the mafia… "I have to study for a test with Yamamoto and Gokudera-kun."

Mom smiled. "Have fun!"

I nodded as I left for the school. "Oi, Tsuna!" called Yamamoto.

Gokudera-kun nudged him with his elbow. "Don't be so casual with the 10th!" he whispered. I saw that he had a large amount of dynamite stuffed everywhere, and a lot of soot on his clothes and face.

"Have you been experimenting with explosives again?" asked a new voice. Chrome!

"Of course!" he shouted. "It's my fight! I came prepared!"

"Just make sure you can fight with those!" said Yamamoto-kun good-naturedly.

"Why you…"

"SAWADA!" roared Onii-san.

"Onii-san!" he's here too?

"Wait up for Lambo-san!" shouted Lambo. "Don't leave without me!"

I looked around. "That's everyone… except Hibari-san."

"It doesn't matter if he's here or not!" shouted Gokudera-kun. "It's the Storm fight tonight!"

I decided that he had a point, so we walked towards the school without arguing. I had to quiet Onii-san and Lambo several times since they were so loud at seven-fifty in the evening, but nothing happened otherwise. But when we finally arrived at the school-

"Hmph," said Hibari, sitting in a tree. Come to think of it, I didn't see him all day…His face had a long horizontal cut on it, and I could see cuts all over his body even though his clothes covered most of them up. He hopped off the branch his was sitting on, and I noticed that his leg had been injured heavily. But since he never let any injury stop him, there was virtually no sign of it. I doubted that anyone except for me could see it.

"So you're here too?" asked Gokudera-kun calmly. "What happened to you?"

"None of your business," he replied loftily.

"It vas a draw," said a voice with a German accent. The German! He was standing with his brother, the Spaniard, the Swede, the Finn, and the kid. "No matter vot bruder tells you, neizer of zem von."

"Kesese~ just keep telling yourself zat, Vest!" shouted the albino man, yellow bird flapping on his head.

"Bruder…" said the German man, resigned to his brother's antics. "I vas zere. I stopped ze fight because you vould have been arrested."

"LIKE THE POLICE COULD ARREST ZE AWESOME PREU-"

The German man grabbed his brother in a headlock to shut him up, but the albino man used his legs to trip/kick him, and a confused moment later, ended up holding _him_ in a headlock, this time forcing both of them on the ground. "You're one hundred years too early to try zat vis your older bruder!" cackled the red-eyed man.

Older… brother? "You're older?!" I shouted. He's so much less mature!

"Ja," both of them said. The albino man let go of his younger brother, allowing both of them to stand up. "You came here to fight?" the German man asked matter-of-factly.

"Yeah!" shouted Gokudera-kun.

"You haf to vait," he replied, annoyed at something other than us. "As usual, ze tvins are late."

"Both bosses must be present," said a Cervello. This time, there were two of them. "That is the rule."

"If Lovino Vargas is not here in five minutes, then the victory will automatically go to-"

"Sono qui!" shouted a heavy, panting voice. Vargas! And his brother! (A/N I'm here!)

"Vhere vere you!?" shouted the German man. "You vere almost disqualified! Vhy can't you ever run fast vhen you're not running avay!?"

Feliciano shrunk, and apologized quietly, but Lovino was angry. He yelled at the German man rapidly in Italian, while the German man stood there, resigned to his yelling as much as his older brother's hyperactivity. "A-hem," said the Cervello. "The fight will begin shortly, unless you have anything to say."

Lovino stood up. "I don't," he said stiffly.

"Then let the Storm Guardians step up!"

"ALL RIGHT!" shouted Gokudera-kun, dynamite in hand.

"Hah, I've been vait for zis," said the albino man. His bird now had a huge sword in its beak, which he grabbed the handle of. "I am Gilbert Maria Beilschmit!"

"I am Gokudera Hayato," said Gokudera-kun.

Gilbert? "W-wait!" I cried. "That guy fought Hibari to a draw! A _draw_," I stressed the last word.

"It doesn't matter, 10th," said Gokudera-kun. "Listen, Gilbert Maria Beilschmit," he pointed at him with a fist full of dynamite. "I will defeat you!"

Gilbert regarded him cockily. "Kesesese~ Let's see how good you are, kid," he said, giant sword lifted with one hand. "Ready?"

"Not until I start the fight," said one of the Cervello. "Three, two, one… BEGIN!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] I assume that Italian has some form of cursive.

Who are the other Guardians? Who will win, Prussia or Gokudera? And when will the Italy brothers arrive on time?


	5. Chapter 5

No, Japan will not be a Guardian. The way I see it, nations have their own limits on what they can do. Unless certain conditions are met, a nation cannot fight their own citizen. The main one is that it is only in self-defense, so Romano can fight the Vongola (because he is protecting himself). The nation can also put himself in harms way to protect someone, but using that for a dispute is a loophole that Japan would refuse to exploit due to his honor. Romano decided not to make it difficult for him, so never called him to begin with.

These fights won't be like the ones in AK, UK, P, i.e. short and with an overwhelming advantage towards the nations. This time, I actually know the moves of the KHR characters.

Chapter 5

"That is, as soon as we explain the rules," said the other Cervello. "Come with us." She and her coworker walked off, leaving us to follow.

"Um… where are we going?" I asked meekly.

She ignored me. Hah… if any of them actually had any sort of emotional response besides pain, then I'd be scared. We entered the building, and climbed up several flights of stairs. At last, we came to the door to the roof. "Your fight will be here," she said.

I gaped. A sudden jolt of lightning illuminated a gleaming spidery structure. Wasn't this the Lighting Ring Battle location? "You may notice that we are fighting on the Lightning Battle stage," said the Cervello. "For the Guardian matches, the fights will be set up on the grounds of another element. For example, the Rain match may be set on the Cloud battleground, or the Sun match may be set on the Storm battleground. The Sky match is the exception, as there are no Rings like last time."

"Then how are we supposed to win!?" shouted Gokudera-kun.

"When your opponent is incapacitated or otherwise unable to fight," replied the Cervello.

Gilbert grinned like a madman. "Just how I like it," he said.

"I'd like to see you try," said Gokudera-kun. "I've been perfecting my technique all day."

"Ha!" shouted Gilbert. "Vone day isn't enough."

"Grr…"

"Quiet down," said the Cervello. She raised a flag. "Let the match begin!"

"Watch this!" shouted Gokuera-kun as he whipped out a dozen sticks of lit dynamite. He tossed them haphazardly in the general direction of his opponent. "Rocket-bombs!"

They burst in midair, changing direction as their inner gunpowder burst, zooming towards Gilbert-

THUMP! Gilbert leapt forward at a startling speed considering the size of his sword. He landed right in front of Gokudera-kun, and slashed at him at almost blinding speed.

BOOM! A stick of dynamite went off, blasting both combatants backward. Gokudera-kun staggered up, holding his left arm. Blood was gushing from his arm, so much that I couldn't even see the original wound. So this is the power of the man who fought Hibari on equal terms…

Gilbert smirked. "You don't see ze veakness in your technique, do you?" he said.

"Why should I listen to you?!" Gokudera-kun bit back.

Gilbert sighed. "Kid, you see-" BOOM! "One single-" BOOM! "Opening."

"Sorry, couldn't hear you over the thunder," said Yamamoto-kun.

"I couldn't hear you over," Gilbert began, raising his sword dramatically. BOOM! "Sound of how awesome I am!"

"SHUT UP!" shouted Gokudera-kun. "Just tell me what my weakness is!"

"PUT ZAT SWORD DOWN RIGHT NOW!" shouted Gilbert's little brother.

"Vhy should I-" ZAP! BOOM! Lightning struck Gilbert's sword. He fell to the ground, but got back up again. "I'm okay…"

"I told you…" said his brother, facepalming. "Metal conducts electricity, und your sword is made of steel."

"Anyvay," said Gilbert, recovering from the lighting a little too quickly, "you failed to notice a fatal veakness in your 'rocket bombs'."

"Quit stalling and tell me what it is!" shouted Gokudera-kun.

Gilbert pointed at his dynamite. "You see, your dynamite has an extra level of dynamite zat changes ze direction und speed of eeit, am I right? But zey all converge on vone single point- vhere your opponent eeiz. If your opponent rushed forward-"

"I'm wide open, right?" said Gokudera-kun. He fingered another dozen sticks. "Try this!" He threw at least twenty sticks in Gilbert's general direction. A few of them shot forward like regular Rocket Bombs, but the others-

"A mix of normal and modified bombs, is it kid!?" laughed Gilbert. "KESESE~ you're getting better!" He rushed forward anyway, effectively avoiding the Rocket Bombs, and sliced most of the normal ones in half-

"You fell for it!" shouted Gokudera-kun. Several Rocket bombs shot out from behind Gilbert and blew up on his back. "Those were all Rocket Bombs- pointing backwards."

Gilbert was breathing hard. Before I could fully register what had happened, his hand shot out and grabbed Gokudera-kun by the neck. "You… you sought zat you had me?" he said, grinning. "I haf felt vorse." There was a cracking noise, and Gokudera-kun crumpled.

"G-Gokudera-kun!" I shouted.

"Vot?" said Gilbert. "I only hit him in ze solar plexus. He vill be unconscious for a vhile, but he's okay."

The Cervello raised her flag. "The winner of the Storm match is Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

"KESESESE~~! SUCK IT, LOSERS!" gloated Gilbert. He is crazy…

The rest of us, bar Hibari, ran to Gokudera-kun's side. "Are you okay!?" I asked frantically.

Chrome dabbed some kind on ointment on him, but didn't say anything.

"GET UP TO THE EXTREME!" boomed Onii-san.

"Don't yell at an injured person," said Yamamoto.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY!" Gokudera-kun jolted awake.

"You're… all right…" I began.

Gokudera-kun bowed down to me low. "I'm so sorry I lost, 10th!"

"I-It's okay…" I said. "As long as you're alive, I'm happy."

"10th…" said Gokudera-kun. For the first time I've seen him, he had tears in his eyes.

"Hmph, another crowding of herbivores," said Hibari as he walked off. Typical of him…

I looked at Gilbert, and he appeared to be celebrating with the other members of Lovino's family. I thought I saw a crate of beer, sausages, pasta, and tomatoes being passed around. Lovino was yelling something at the Spaniard, who was smiling his usual sunny smile, while Feliciano was talking to the German excitedly, who was also being tormented by Gilbert. The Swede, his Finnish 'wife', and the kid were all eating some kind of meatballs together.

They really did look like a family… I could scarcely believe that they had been shoved together at the last minute. But who else was with them? Not all of the family was in Japan, so there had to be more than just them…

"What's the next match, anyway?" I asked the Cervello.

She shook her head. "We can't tell you. The schedule must be flexible, so there will be no confirmation of which Guardian beforehand. How are your Guardians?" she added, directing the question towards Lovino.

"I don't know," he said. "They agreed to come, but I can't say when they can make it."

"Then the next match will be someone that is present," said the other Cervello. She jotted something on a clipboard. "You can go home now."

"Ve~ I'll bring pasta for everyone next time!" shouted Feliciano cheerfully as his brother's family walked through the gate.

"Great!" said Yamamoto.

"I'll take you home…" I told Gokudera-kun. "Wait… where do you live, anyway?"

"Don't worry about me, 10th!" Gokudera-kun promised.

"Because he has a big sister to look after him," said a female voice… Bianchi!?

Gokudera-kun's stomach groaned. "S-sis…"

"Ciao, bella!" called Feliciano. Bianchi spun around, but he jumped backwards at the last minute. Why did he just do that?

"You dodged my slap, didn't you?" asked Bianchi. "Before I even had the chance to prepare. I wonder how you'll handle this!" She drew a handful of Poison Cooking from her pockets, and threw a bundle at him.

With blinding speed, Feliciano caught it. "Ve…" he said sadly. "Food shouldn't be used like this…"

"Th-those were Disintegration Cupcakes…" said Bianchi. "H-how did you…"

Lovino grabbed his twin, and dragged him off. He yelled something at him in Italian, and then ran off. I could have sworn that Feliciano was eating a cupcake…

"No way!" shouted Bianchi in uncharacteristic shock. "He actually ate my Poison Cooking!?"

"He must have nullified it," said Reborn. Why was he dressed like a fish? "There is no information on Feliciano Vargas, other than the fact that he is an excellent cook. The Poison Cooking must have been cancelled out by his sheer skill."

"That makes absolutely no sense, but neither does my life," I said.

"And you, Tsuna…" I gulped. "You will have to train twice as hard as before!"

X

The next day, it was business as usual…

"Gokudera-san, what happened to your arm?" asked Shiro-sensei.

"What's it to you?" snapped Gokudera-kun rudely.

There were furtive whispers from several boys, something about delinquents and territory conflicts. If only they knew…

"Hibari-san came to school yesterday with his body cut up, didn't he?" said a girl.

"Yeah, I wonder what happened to him."

"Maybe it's a spate of serial attacks!"

"Quiet," said Shiro-sensei. "The lesson will start now. Or, as soon as we talk about the wonders of chicken pot pie."

After that and a few lessons, it was lunchtime. Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto, Kyoko, and I all headed for the roof, where Onii-chan was waiting.

"I can't wait for my match to the EXTREME!" he shouted, lifting weights as he ate.

"Onii-chan told me that you're involved with another sumo tournament," said Kyoko. She smiled. "Please be careful this time, all of you."

"H-hai…" I said, blushing.

After that, it was a nightmare of an English/History class. The teachers decided to combine English and History class together, resulting in a class where we gave our history reports in English. I told everyone that Hungary hit on Prussia hard (it was actually 'Hungary hit Prussia hard'), and Yamamoto said that Prussia seized and occupied Austria's vital regions during the War of Austrian Succession. He was technically correct, but he should have worded it, 'Prussia had taken one of Austria's important regions', according to Ms. Brown. Gokudera-kun gave a speech in English that I couldn't follow, but got another hundred for it.

At last, it was Shiro-sensei for the last class, and we were home free. But where was Hibari? I hadn't seen him all day…

X

A few miles away, an airplane landed at that exact moment. To many people, I looked like another young woman on a trip, but I had a deeper reason for coming. I waited patiently for the other passengers to clear, and then grabbed my bag. In it were several innocent devices like my clothes and shoes, but deeper was a metal-cloaking device to get past security._ It was too troublesome to get 'it' past otherwise_, I had thought. But where is the school, anyway?

"Excuse me," I asked a pair of girls who looked the age of a junior high schooler. "Do you know vhere Nanimori Junior High is?"

The girls smiled. "Hai!" said the orange-haired girl. "That's my school!"

"That's where my crush goes~!" said the girl with a ponytail enthusiastically. Just like my little brother…

"Nagyszerű!" I said. (A/N **Great**!)

"Come on, we'll show you!" said the orange-haired girl. We walked down a several streets, until we came to a building labeled 'Nanimori Junior High' in kanji on the gates, as was the custom in Japan's house.

"Are you new here?" asked the orange-haired girl.

"Igen, but I am just visiting," I replied.

The girls looked at each other, and smiled. "Then we'll show you around town!" shouted the ponytail girl. "We know the best places around here! It'll be **dangerous** and fun!"

I smiled. "Vhat are your names?" I asked.

"I'm Kyoko!" said the orange-haired girl.

"I'm Haru!" said the ponytail girl. "What's your name?"

"You can call me Elizabeta."

X (meanwhile…)

_This is the place,_ thought Hibari. _Honda Kiku. A formidable swordsman whose name is not known to many. Not even Superbi Squalo acknowledged him on his quest to be the most powerful. And he lives outside of Tokyo, not too far from Nanimori. Perfect…_

Hibari knocked on the door of a traditional Japanese house, and waited… thirty seconds. Hibari leapt over the gates, and landed in the courtyard. Where is he…?

"YOU LAZY CAT!" shouted an older man wearing a suspicious mask. He was yelling at another man completely covered in cats.

"Phantom… of the… Opera," the cat man said tiredly.

"Flying pig-do-"

Hibari jumped into the fray and drew his tonfa in the same moment. "Who are you?" asked the masked man.

"Do you know where Honda Kiku is?" Hibari asked threateningly.

"No," both men said in unison. "If we did, why would we be arguing here?" said the masked man.

"We… always argue… like this…" said the cat man.

"The one thing we actually agree on," said the masked man. "Is the fact that we argue."

Shuff… Hibari knelt into a fighting stance. "Tell me where Honda is, or-"

The door opened behind them with a creak. "Konichiwa," said a clearly Japanese voice. "Please, I would like to know why you are currently in my house."

"Well, we both wanted to talk to you…" began the masked man. "And then we got into another fight…"

The Japanese man sighed. "Again?"

"Quiet," said Hibari. "I came here to fight you."

The man looked at him with absolutely no expression. Hibari lunged towards him. CLANG! Without hesitating, the man drew his katana to block the attack. "Tell me where Honda Kiku is," said Hibari.

The man lowered his blade. "I am Honda Kiku. Why did you attack me?"

"I wanted to fight you," replied Hibari. "I heard that you were one of the most powerful swordsmen in Japan."

"Please. Do not flatter me," said Honda formally. "But… why would you want to fight me?"

Hibari remained silent. "Your body is covered with wounds," said Honda with a deadpan expression. "You lost to someone, and you wanted to become stronger by training."

It wasn't a question. "Hibari Kyoya. Let us fight."

X

That night, all of us came to the school in secret. Hibari came in late as usual, but… was he more injured than he was yesterday?

"Hey!" shouted Gilbert from the other side. "It took you long enough!"

"Bruder," said the German man. "Please calm down."

"Vest~" complained Gilbert.

The German sighed. "Fine…"

A pair of Cervello appeared from out of nowhere. "Is everyone here?" one of them asked.

Lovino nodded. "Who's up now?"

The other Cervello raised her flag. Violet… "Cloud. Cloud Guardians, step up!"

Hibari leapt down from his spot up in the tree. "I've been waiting for my chance," he said. "Who am I going to bite to death today?"

"Me."

GYYYAAAAH!

TO BE CONTINUED!

No author notes? I must be slipping…

Who is the Cloud Guardian? What role will Hungary fill? And when will Turkey and Greece stop fighting?


	6. Chapter 6

Hi guys! Happy holidays to you all, wherever you are! For the holidays, there's going to be a treat somewhere in this fic! All three of my active fics have this.

I know that sign language (nodding, shaking heads) changes with country, but for the sake of the plot let's all look the other way.

Chapter 6 

Th-the scary Swedish guy was the Cloud!? And he's up against Hibari, too… "Today's match will take place in the Storm complex," said the Cervello. "Please follow us."

She led us up into the upstairs hallways. "This time, we did not prepare such an elaborate system as we did before, due to budget cuts," she said. "So there are no Tempest Generators. The rules for victory are the same as yesterday- render your opponent unable to battle, and you win."

Hibari and the Swede didn't say anything, but I could sense bloodlust from Hibari's end.

"M' n'm 's Berwald," said the Swede. "Wh't's your's?"

"Hibari," said Hibari. "Hibari Kyoya."

Berwald nodded. "N'ce to m't you."

Hibari didn't say anything, but drew his tonfa in a way that allowed all of us to see.

One Cervello led us to a roped-off enclosure where we were supposed to stay for the match. "You can see everything from these TV screens," she said.

"Hey, isn't that mine?" asked the German.

"We refuse to comment," she replied.

"I could arrest you."

"The match will start in three, two, one… begin!"

Hibari rushed towards Berwald in an instant, leaving absolutely no time for him to- He drew his weapon! That was an axe! Not the one that hung on the wall of the café, but an axe all the same.

"He blocked Hibari's attack!?" shouted Gokudera-kun.

"He's that fast?!" shouted Onii-san. "I want to recruit him into the boxing team to the EXTREME!"

"You can't," said Lovino Vargas. "He's twenty-one."

"AGE DOES NOT MATTER IN BOXING!" shouted Onii-san.

"He eeiz not even boxing," said the German. "Zat eeiz a veapon."

"Kesese~ he's not nearly as awesome as I am!" shouted Gilbert shakily.

"I thought you fainted every time he looked at you?" said the Spaniard innocently.

Gilbert turned a bright red. "Z-You try vis a past like mine, Antonio!"

Antonio sighed. "At least you admit it…"

"H-hey, you vere scared vhen you ran avay vis him, didn't you, Tino-" he turned around, but whoever was called Tino appeared to be gone.

"Ve~ he said he was busy," said Feliciano. "Remember, he's Santa!"

Santa? I looked out the window, and the Swede's Finnish 'wife' was flying on the back of a reindeer. CLANG! Hibari and Berwald were exchanging blows at a rapid pace, not letting up for a second. "You're pretty good," said Hibari, springing back. "But now I'm serious."

Berwald nodded a fraction of an inch…wait, why am I talking about inches when I'm in Japan!? "L't's see h'w you are," he said with no trace of emotion.

They exchanged another flurry of blows, until Berwald staggered back. Hibari aimed for the finishing blow, but-

Berwald scythed his axe upwards, catching one of Hibari's tonfa and throwing it across the room with a clatter. He's going to-

WHAM! Hibari thrust him remaining tonfa into Berwald's stomach, and punched him into the next room. Taking advantage of this precious moment, he lunged for his tonfa-

Berwald emerged from the wreckage of desks and tables, with a look like he had a heavy headache. He didn't groan, but I was sure that he was hurt badly.

Hibari dashed in his moment of confusion and struck- two blows in the head and the chest. Berwald guarded his head, but Hibari still pounded his chest with such impact that I was surprised that he didn't faint. Berwald struggled to get up, but then Hibari bashed him in the head.

"The match is over," said the Cervello. THWACK! Hibari thrust his tonfa into Berwald's leg, and I heard a cracking noise. "You won. You do not have to-"

Hibari paid no attention to her, and prepared for another strike-

WHAM! All of a sudden, an axe blow caught Hibari on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground. "Thank goodness I got here in time," said a light-haired kid with purple eyes, holding a large throwing axe. "Are you okay?" he asked Berwald.

"E-Emil!?" shouted Lovino's other family members. "How did you get here!?" asked the little kid.

"Lukas teleported me here," replied Emil. "I guess he wanted me to protect Berwald… why is he here, anyway?"

Lovino opened his mouth to speak, but Hibari lunged at Emil before anything was said. "Why did you interfere with my fight?" he asked in a low voice.

Emil shrugged in a hassled sort of way. "Berwald was attacked! Why wouldn't I interfere!?"

Hibari thrust his tonfa at least fifty times at Emil, but he appeared to dodge all of his attempts. "I don't get why Lukas sent me," he grumbled. "Why does he keep on doing this!?"

He's not striking back, so he can focus completely on dodging! He's good!

"Y'r br'th'r is unpr'd'ctble as ever," said Berwald, suddenly waking up. "Are you st'll r'f's'ng to adm't he's your br'th'r?"

Emil turned a bright scarlet. "I-"

THWACK! Hibari bashed him into the janitor's closet. "Pay attention when you're fighting," he said. "Or I'll bite you to death."

Emil got up amidst the mops, still grumbling about his brother. "Where's Tino?" he asked at last. "I thought he was with you?"

"He had to go," said the gun-wielding kid. "Since he's Santa-"

WHAM! Hibari caught Emil in the chest, but he didn't falter even though he was gushing blood. Was it just me, or was the room getting hot…?

SZZZ! Hibari's tonfa were melting! Emil's blood looked different… it was glowing a bright yellow-white color, illuminating his and Hibari's faces in an unnatural way… what happened? Emil kicked Hibari back, panting. The glow of the blood faded. "I have a special ability," said Emil, not entirely unharmed. "I can turn my blood into lava at will."

"Doesn't that hurt?" I found myself asking.

"No," he replied, but didn't say anything else. "By the way, can someone explain to me why you're all here?"

Lovino turned to us. "Can any of you speak Icelandic?" he asked. We all shook our heads, but Onii-san shouted, "Boxing is the only language a man needs to learn to the EXTREME!"

"You're an idiot," said Lovino. He then proceeded to jabber away in what I presumed to be Icelandic, which Emil nodded to at several points. "I tried to get Lukas on the team, but he was busy with something. Do you-"

Emil shook his head. "How can I know what he's thinking!?"

"H's your br'th'r," said Berwald.

Emil blushed a brighter scarlet, and his body began to steam. "Just because he's my brother doesn't mean that-"

"Ve~ I don't know what Fratello is thinking sometimes!" said Feliciano. Lovino nodded subtly.

"I cannot imagine vot bruder sinks," said the German.

"Ah, I know exactly vot you're sinking, Vest!" said Gilbert in a fit of hysterics.

"It's Ludvig," said the German. "My name is Ludvig."

I had the impression that he was saying that for us, so that we could now call him by his name instead of 'German guy'. "P-pleased to meet you," I said out of politeness more than anything else.

"10th! Don't say something like that to-"

"What is the status of your Guardians?" a Cervello asked Lovino.

"The Sun Guardian is already in Japan," he said.

"Then the next fight will be Sun," said the Cervello conclusively. "You all can go home now."

X

That night, I woke up to the sound of… paint chipping? I sat up, and crept out of bed holding a baseball bat… was it a burglar?

I descended down the stairs slowly but surely. What would I do if I really found the burglar? I would call the police… yes, I would-

Thump… I watched as a figure carefully dropped a box on the floor… I reached for the phone-

"Agh!" the figure tripped over the box and let out a yelp. That voice…

"You're Berwald's Finnish wife!" I blurted out.

The figure turned to me, and flipped the light switch. "Oh well," he said. "You caught me…"

"Why are you dressed like Santa?" I asked. "And…" I pointed to a patch in the wall where the paint was completely stripped. The boards were intact, but the paint was peeled off somehow.

The Finn blushed. "You see… I'm actually Santa on Christmas, so I go out and deliver presents," he said. "During this time, I can walk through the walls of houses that don't have chimneys, but… I can't walk though paint."

"Oh," I said. "M-Merry Christmas…"

He smiled. "Merry Christmas!"

I tiptoed back to my bed. That was strange…

X (Gokudera's house)

Boom! Gokudera threw a stick of dynamite at the intruder. "Who told you about this place!?" he demanded. "How did you find my off-screen house!?" [1]

"C-Calm down!" shouted Finland. "I'm just here as Santa to deliver presents!"

"Yeah right!"

X (At Yamamoto's house)

"Konichiwa, Santa!" Yamamoto said.

"Hei!" Finland replied. "Here's your present. You know, I'm glad that your house doesn't have paint, since I would have messed it up for sure…"

X (Ryohei and Kyoko's house)

"HOW DID YOU GET IN TO THE EXTREME?!" shouted Ryohei. "I WANT YOU ON MY BOXING TEAM!"

"P-please stop shouting," said Finland nervously. "I don't want to wake anyone-"

"Onii-san?" Kyoko opened the door to her brother's room. "Who is this?"

"HE IS GOING TO JOIN-"

"No, I am not!" said Finland firmly, and he ran through the wall, making another spot on the wall where the paint chipped.

X (Haru's house)

"Puyi! A dangerous man entered my house!"

"S-sorry! But I'm not dangerous… I brought cake!"

"Yay! Cake!"

X (Hibari's house)

Finland scanned the area furtively. He was nowhere in sight… he crept into his room and set a box on his bed stand. Time to go…

X (Kokuyo land)

"W-wait! I'm here to deliver presents!" shouted Finland desperately. "Please put away your weapons…"

"Fine," said Ken reluctantly, and he put away his fangs.

_Phew_… thought Finland. _I almost died…_

X (Vindice/Vindicare prison)

"For the last time, if they are in here, then they are most likely naughty," said Jager.

"Come on, can't you give this to Mukuro Rokudo?" said Finland. "I mean, all it would take is putting it in his tank…"

X

Meanwhile, a young man walked the streets of Nanimori, carrying his older brother over his shoulder. "Come on, Iggy," he said. "It wasn't that much. How did you get so drunk?"

"Who are you calling drunk!?" raved his brother. "It's only been a few pints! I can-"

"Hey, you," said a yakuza underling. "Shut up. And while you're at it, give me all your money." The man-or boy- didn't move. "All right then, have it your way!" the underling lunged at the boy-

Who punched him in the ribs. Just before he passed out, the yakuza had just one last thing to ask… "Why? Why did you not do that earlier?"

The boy grinned. "Because if I struck first, I wouldn't be the hero!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Gokudera's house- he is never shown to have a house, which is why he's so annoyed.

I compare the Sun Guardian to I-Pin. You'll see why…

Who is the Sun? Why is America there? And when will Mukuro get his present?


	7. Chapter 7

I might have said this to someone on a PM, or put it up last chapter, but I compare the Sun Guardian with I-Pin. I'll explain at the end of the chapter, when the contestant is revealed.

On Wikipedia, it claimed that Silesia was a 'vital region' of Prussia when it was occupied. No, seriously!

I'm 'translating' Sweden's speech, so you don't have to struggle over those words with so many vowels.

Chapter 7

The next day, we still had school despite the fact that yesterday was Christmas. I had no idea why, but I really didn't have time to think about it since I was supposed to write in an apology essay for History/English class that explained that Hungary and Prussia are not people, they are countries. Also, that if they were people, then Hungary would never hit on Prussia since they were both guys and Hungary would have to marry the delicate lady Austria. Gokudera-kun had then yelled at Ms. Brown, citing that Austria was an extremely tough, rough, and aggressive nation that fought in a lot of wars. Yamamoto had to do one that said that the War of Austrian Succession had nothing to do with '**illicit behavior**' on the part of Prussia, who did not seize and occupy Austria's genitals, but rather, Silesia.

I didn't know this at the time, but Gilbert, a Hungarian woman, and an Austrian man all sneezed at the same time, and then began fighting over the last piece of sushi all over again.

By the time I finished the essay and handed it in, Gokudera-kun had taught the class and Ms. Brown everything about Austrian history, including the House of Hapsburg and the involvement in the First World War. Ms. Brown stood there for fifteen straight minutes before admitting that she didn't even know that Austria had partitioned Poland. Then the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

Shiro-sensei's class was interesting, to say the least. He demonstrated the eighty-one uses of silly putty, which was strange since this was a math class. He then let us talk for the rest of the period. Gokudera-kun instantly dragged me over to the side to talk to me about the upcoming match. He thumped a large stack of papers onto my desk. "I've already made strategies for that boxer," he said. He picked out one sheet of paper, one that looked like a multiple choice test. "You put the physical information of his opponent here, and you end up with a number." He arranged the other sheets to reveal that they had numbers labeled on the top. "If the guy is 160~165 cm tall, weighs 60~65 km, and has an Endomorphic body type then he should be attacked with strategy 058. If he's Ectomorphic, weighs 50~55 kg and 180~185 cm tall, then number 283 is best, and so on and so forth."

SLAM! Onii-san slammed the door open and shouted, "WHO NEEDS STRATEGIES WHEN YOU HAVE BOXING!? THAT IS WHAT I SAY TO THE EXTREME!"

"Onii-san!" shouted Kyoko. "Please calm down!"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN TO THE EXTREME! I AM BURNING UP WITH-"

"Sasagawa-san, how did you get in here?" asked Shiro-sensei. "Class is still in session."

"I LIED AND SAID THAT I HAD TO USE THE BATHROOM!"

Ms. Brown entered the room and dragged him off, apologizing to Shiro-sensei. "I'm sorry he disrupted your class," she said.

"No, it's fine," replied Shiro-sensei. "After all- Whoops, there goes the bell."

Onii-san held out his hand to Kyoko-chan and shouted, "LET US GO HOME TOGETHER TO THE EXTREME!"

Kyoko-chan shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I promised Haru that I'd go with her after school, to show our foreign friend Elizabeta around!"

Foreign friend? I peered out the window. A young woman in a modestly long dress was standing at the gates. She spotted me, and gave a friendly wave. I waved back, albeit shyly.

Haru came running towards the woman, saying something that I couldn't quite discern from this distance but was clearly upbeat and enthusiastic. The woman smiled, and said something mildly. "Is that her?" I asked Kyoko-chan.

Kyoko-chan nodded. "Hai," she said, and we walked out of the classroom and along the hallway. "I met her yesterday. She was looking for our school for some reason… do you think she has a relative who goes here?"

She wanted to know where the school was? There was no way that that wasn't suspicious… "THAT MUST BE IT TO THE EXTREME!" shouted Onii-san. "BUT WAIT! I HAVE TO SEE IF THIS ELIZABETA CAN KEEP YOU SAFE!"

I sweatdropped. "It's only a walk through town," I said. "I doubt that you would get into trouble."

"BUT THERE IS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY-"

"Shut up!" Gokudera-kun snapped. "They'll be perfectly safe here in Nanimori! There's no way anything can occur without something else happening at the same time that somehow results in 10th saving them in Dying Will Mode!"

I sweatdropped. Gokudera-kun just summed up my entire life since Reborn got here… not counting all the battles. We got to the gates, and Onii-san immediately ran to Elizabeta. "CAN YOU PROTECT MY LITTLE SISTER?! I NEED TO KNOW!" he roared.

Surprisingly, Elizabeta did not falter. "Of course!" she said with vigor rather than cheer. "If anyone dares attack us, zen zey vill get ze beating of zier lives!"

Onii-san put his hand on her shoulder and shouted, "THEN I LEAVE MY LITTLE SISTER IN YOUR HANDS!"

Elizabeta clapped her hand with his. "Igen!"

She, Haru, and Kyoko ran off towards the town, chatting excitedly. "Ch," said Gokudera-kun. "They're so excited about the smallest things."

"Ah, it's only three girls having fun," said Yamamoto-kun.

Gokudera-kun waved a hand dismissively. "More importantly, you're sure that you don't need the plans?"

Onii-san jabbed the air with his fist and bellowed, "OF COURSE! BOXING IS ALL I NEED!"

"Idiot," Gokudera-kun muttered.

X

Haru and Kyoko were very nice girls, and they seemed to know everyone in town. Eventually, they directed me to the café where the others were staying. Today, Sweden was in charge. "H'll', Elizabeta," he said. "H'w's it g'n'g?" (How's it going?)

"Fine," I replied. "Do you like living in Japan?"

"It's n'c', th' p'pl' 'r' n'c'," he replied in his thick accent.

"Sorry, can you say it in Swedish?" I asked

"**It's nice, the people are nice**," he repeated. "**Lovino asked you to come fight, right**?"

"Igen," I said.

"You speak Swedish?" asked Haru in her sweet, ditzy way.

"I do," I said. "I've been to Sweden before."

"Sh' br'k' G'lb'rt's h'd 'n a st't 'f Chr's'n 'f Sw'd'n," Sweden added for Haru and Kyoko. (**She broke Gilbert's head on a statue of Christiana of Sweden**).

"You know each other?" Kyoko interrupted.

"Ve are acquaintances," I said, beginning the standard explanation for knowing other nations.

"W' m't 'n 'r j'b," said Sweden. (**We met on our job**).

"Ve vork for our governments," I said, using the best, most vague explanation I could. "Ve hold meetings and discuss vot ve should be doing."

"Does that mean you travel a lot?" Kyoko asked. "It must be nice… have you ever been to France?"

On instinct, I scowled at the mention of that pervert. "Yes," I said.

Seeing my sudden anger, Haru quickly asked, "What about Turkey? I heard that it had nice architecture!" As I was still visually annoyed, she added, "Spain? Romania? Prussia… wait, that's not a country anymore!"

"How about Austria?" Kyoko put out rather lamely. Still, I brightened up at the mention of my former husband's name. The mood lightened, and we chatted freely.

After we ate off the cake (while Finland did make it and his traditional food was terrible, he was still a good cook [1]), we waved goodbye to Sweden and left the café.

"Ciao~o, bella!" an Italian-accented voice called. It was too deep and… well, _perverted_ to be any of the Italy brothers. I turned around to glare at him. A man wearing a doctor's white lab coat stood exactly where I thought he would be. "You're a cute babe, why don't you and I go out and-"

WHAM! I slammed my frying pan into his face, breaking his nose. "Do not even sink about it!" I shouted.

The man made a quick recovery considering the impact of the metal pan, and proceeded to Kyoko. "How would you like to-"

"HIYAAH!" A small object collided with the doctor's head. When it slowed down enough for me to see, it took the form of a five year old girl. "You no attack Kyoko!" she shouted in broken Japanese. The man lay there on the ground.

"I-Pin!" Kyoko called. "It's nice to see you!"

The girl turned around. "Ni Men Hao!" she said to all of us. (A/N Like Ni Hao, except talking to multiple people.)

"Ni hao," I said in response. "Your name is I-Pin?" I-Pin nodded. There was something about her that I could see clearly. "You are a girl, aren't you?"

I-Pin looked at me in awe. "How you know?" she asked.

"Oh, I know of these sings," I said vaguely. I knelt down. "Do not vorry about vot oser people sink. You vill be a beautiful lady someday."

She smiled. "Xiexie!" she thanked me. "But… I look like boy? How you know that?"

I looked up. "Ven I vas I child, I looked like a boy also," I said.

"Puyi! B-but you're so feminine!" Haru protested.

"Nein, she vasn't alvays like zat," interrupted a farmiliar voice.

"Gilbert." I said with venom.

"Puyi! A **dangerous** man has entered!" Haru squealed, using the English word for dangerous.

"Ja, it's ze awesome me, Elizabeta," he said cockily. He turned to the girls. "You see, she vasn't alvays zis girly."

"Yeah right!" Haru said defiantly.

Prussia shrugged, nonplussed. "Eeit eeiz true. Ven ve vere children, everyone sought zat ze vas a guy!"

"Eh?! Really?" Kyoko asked.

"Eeit's true, as hard as eeit eeiz to believe," Prussia swaggered. "She beat up ze man who vould later become her husband. Und zen she beat me up. Und don't get me started on ze incident vis ze chamber pot…"

I glared at Prussia. "And you do not remember vot you did vis ze crotch cloth!? And ven you touched my chest!?"

Prussia began to sweat. "I- I sought zat you vere a guy!"

"_And_ you forced Feliks to strip because you sought zat he vas a girl!" I added with a vengeance. [2]

"Zat vas because I vas supposed to avoid girls at ze time!" Prussia argued hotly. "Vot about ze time ven you vere in Romania und-!?"

"Zat vas years ago!" I shouted. "You shot Toris in the head vis an arrow!"

"Puyi! The atmosphere sure is dangerous!" Haru shouted.

"Are you two old flames?" Kyoko asked innocently.

"Nein!" Prussia shouted. "Like I vould date her!"

I-Pin kicked him. "You no insult her!" she shouted.

Prussia looked like he was considering hitting her, but he didn't. "You can say vot you like," he said. He turned to me. "**What? I'm not going to hit a little girl. It would look bad**!" he said in German.

I sighed. "So you have become at least zat much more mature," I said.

Prussia laughed. "No vone can ever tame me! Tschüs!" he waved us goodbye.

Kyoko-chan looked at her watch. "I have to go home now. I told my family that I was going to be home by five!"

Haru glanced up at a clock hanging on one of the stores. "Puyi! It's already four-thirty?! I have to finish my essay by tomorrow!"

I looked at the clock, and sure enough, it was four-thirty. "I have to go meet someone!" I said. "I'll be late!" I turned to the girls. "Köszönöm for showing me around town today!" (**Thank you**)

Kyoko nodded. "It was nice meeting you! Arigato!"

"I'm sorry, I have to go now!" wailed Haru. "Goodbye!"

"Bye!"

"Bye!"

"Bye!"

We parted ways. Now, I had to get to Romano's place soon…

X

"Bye, Mom!" I said as I left the house.

"Bye, Tsu-kun!" Mom waved. It was strange having Mom wave at me when I was going to a fight to the death…

I ran into the others soon enough and all seven of us entered the school grounds.

Sure enough, the Cervello and Lovino's family were there. There were three more people than before, the first being a man with huge eyebrows who appeared to be hung over, the second being a man in glasses carrying the aforementioned man, and the third being-

"Elizabeta?!" the four of us who knew her shouted. Gokudera-kun was the first to react. "I knew you were no good from the time you asked where the school was!" he roared.

"Ugh…" groaned the hung-over man. "Stop shouting… it's making it all worse…"

"Aw, come on Iggy!" the man with glasses said rather loudly. He didn't seem to be consciously shouting, but he was loud. "Don't be such a wimp!"

"So you're the Sun Guardian?" Yamamoto asked, trying to diffuse the situation.

The guy in glasses shook his head. "Nah, I'm just here to drop off Iggy!"

"Then who's the Sun Guardian?! Tell me!" Gokudera-kun shouted strategies in hand. He was analyzing the man called 'Iggy'.

"I am," said Elizabeta. She had changed her clothing in the last hours, from a dress to fatigues. Not the kind you buy in the mall, these fatigues were genuine military fatigues. While they appeared to be freshly washed, there were plenty of signs of wear and tear. Her expression was the same as when she promised Onii-san that she would protect Kyoko-chan and Haru: strong, determined, and confident.

Gokudera-kun, on the other hand, had dropped his strategy list. He didn't factor in gender for any of his strategies… and he certainly didn't expect a girl to be the Sun Guardian. It was, after all, the active part of the rainbow.

Feliciano jumped up from behind her and hugged her. "Ve! Sorella!" Elizabeta hugged him back.

"You're brother and sister!?" Gokudera-kun exclaimed. Oh, right! Sorella means sister in Italian!

"Not biologically," said Elizabeta through Feliciano's affectionate rubbing.

"But Elizabeta has always been a big sister to me!" Feliciano said.

I looked at Lovino, who stayed on the sidelines. "What? I asked Elizabeta because she was close to Fratello. We're not what you would call close…"

"You're the Sun Guardian?!" Onii-san roared. "I can't hit a girl!"

"Don't sink of her as vone," Gilbert put in. He swaggered his way between us. "After all, she's a guy on the inside! Even she sought zat she vas male until she hit puberty!"

Elizabeta looked uncomfortable and angry. "Vot vas zat?!"

"Are you denying it?" Gilbert asked arrogantly.

Elizabeta was livid, but she was forced to agree. "Igen," she spat. "It is true."

"In fact, I vas ze first vone to know," said Gilbert.

"Vould you mind telling zem how?" Elizabeta said angrily.

Gilbert wasn't expecting that. "V-vhy should ze AWESOME ME-"

"You touched my chest!" Elizabeta roared.

"I did not mean to!" Gilbert protested. He turned to us. "Look, it vas an accident! Back ven ve vere kids, she vas complaining about how her chest hurt! So I tried to hit her veak point… it vas only later zat I found out! But… kesesesesese~! Do you know vot she said?!" Gilbert recovered his cocky air.

Elizabeta was furious. "Z-zat vas years ago!"

"She said zat everyvone grew (**male reproductive organs**) when they got older!" Gilbert shouted.

The silence was thick enough to be cut with a knife. "You mean it's only boys?!" the kid with the guns shouted.

"Peter…" the hung-over man said irritably.

"What? _You_ never told me anything about this, jerk-Arthur!" shouted Peter. "You're my bloody older brother!"

"You're twelve!" Iggy—or Arthur—retorted.

"You did zat!?" Ludwig shouted in disbelief. I couldn't' tell if he was talking to his brother or Elizabeta.

"Wait!" Gokudera-kun shouted. "Your name's Elizabeta, right? So why would anyone think that you were a guy with a name like-"

"I vas called Daniel," she said coolly.

"That doesn't suit you," I said.

"Of course! She's a girl! Why would a girl be called Daniel!?"

"Would everyone please be quiet?" one of the Cervello asked. That alone was enough to stop all chatter. "Thank you. Now, would you all please follow me to the Cloud complex?"

Both Cervello walked us over to the other side of the school, where the roped-off minefield that was the Cloud area stood. "You two enter from either side," she said. "If either of you are knocked out of the ring, then you lose. The goal is to incapacitate your opponent."

"SOUNDS EXTREME!" Onii-san shouted, and he leapt over the ropes; missing a mind by barely millimeters. Elizabeta judged her steps carefully but rapidly, and managed to find a spot that wasn't going to blow up in her face.

"Let the match- BEGIN!"

Onii-san took the first blow with a jab, but Elizabeta dodged by a hair's breadth. "So you are a boxer, eh?" she asked. "Zen I vill fight vis no veapons!"

She then tackled him head-on. Onii-san was so taken aback from these turn of events that he did the only thing that he could do-

WHAM~! He threw a punch at her head, knocking her backwards.

"Yes! The stupid boxer did it!" Gokudera-kun hissed.

"No," I said. Something's wrong… she doesn't seem to be trying as hard. Was it because he was Kyoko-chan's brother? That he showed so much faith in her? I wasn't sure. But the fact was, she was losing on purpose…

"Ushishishi… Hello, peasants!" a familiar voice called. Belphegor! Three of the Varia were here! Belphegor, Levi, and Lussuria! Ominously, Levi was carrying a coffin on his back.

"It wasn't the Boss's orders, but…" Levi said with some remorse.

"Why not? It was fun getting him out of the hotel in the middle of the night!" Lussuria said.

Elizabeta got up, and turned to the newcomers. "Who are you?!" she cried.

"You may not know us, but we have a file on you," said Lussuria.

"We did some poking around, and what did we find?" Belphegor teased. "Nothing! All of your files have virtually nothing in them. But since I'm a prince, I gleaned what information I could to my advantage."

"It's for the Boss," said Levi. "If you lose this match, then the chances of you becoming the boss of the Vongola go down!"

"So then the one piece of information came to light," said Belphegor. "The name of your ex-husband- Roderich Edelstein!"

Levi slammed down the coffin and opened it up to reveal an aristocratic-looking man in glasses. He was tied up, and there were whip marks all over him. From what I could see, he was unconscious.

"Roderich!" Elizabeta shouted.

"VEE! Mr. Roderich!" Feliciano freaked out.

"Hey! No vone treats zat stupid aristocrat like zat!" Gilbert yelled. "Only ze awesome me can do zat!"

He tried to leap over the school fence to get at them, but the Cervello stopped him. "No member from either family can touch the other outside of battle," she said, deadpan as usual.

"They're the Varia," said Lovino. "They're also part of Vongola, so you can't touch them as long as you're a Guardian."

"Rrgh," Gilbert muttered, and stepped down.

"How about this?" Belphegor asked Elizabeta. "If you win the match, then your dear ex-husband goes free!"

Elizabeta glared at him with a cold fury that went beyond the petty arguments with Gilbert.

"But if you don't finish this up in five minutes, then…" he waved a knife back and forth.

"SCREW THAT!" Before I could register what happened, the loud man had leapt over the gate, and charged at Levi. Lussuria purposefully got in the way, and had punched him in the nose.

"Not a Guardian, eh?" he said.

"That's right!" Peter shouted, and both handguns were back in his hands. He chose Levi as his target, and shot his guns so quickly and accurately for a kid his age that it was worrying.

"LEAVE MR. RODERICH ALONE!" Feliciano yelled in a burst of strength, and attacked Belphegor with a single rapier. With speed surprising for someone so bubbly, he dodged all the knives thrown at him and-

The next moment was unclear. Lussuria had tried to attack the loud man with his steel knee guard, but the loud man had punched straight through it. Peter had tackled Levi at the exact moment the parabola shot out lightning, and both were electrocuted. Feliciano was crouched behind Belphegor, who was cut at least seventy times.

Belphegor fell. Neither of his comrades were paying attention, however, because of their own problems. Peter headbutted Levi in the nose repeatedly, and I could hear clanging noises. The loud man shook off all of Lussuria's punches easily, and punched him right in the face with the same fist that broke a steel plate five seconds ago. As predicted, both members of the Varia crumbled.

With those three out of the way, Elizabeta had relaxed slightly. But neither she nor Onii-san was giving each other any quarter. Fist against fist, body against body, they were on another level of intensity than… than…

BOOM! BOOM! BBBBBBBOOOOOM! Landmines blew up in a chain reaction, both fighters dancing backwards in time to attack one another once again.

"MAXIMUM CANNON!" Onii-san roared, and his right fist fired like a missile. Elizabeta didn't stand a chance. She was out.

"The match is over!" shouted the Cervello. "Victory goes to the Vongola!"

"TO THE EXTREME!" Onii-san added with a yell.

Lovino looked unhappy, but that was to be expected when he was going to be kidnapped if we won two more matches. After the brief celebrations were over, he glared at me. Somehow, my Hyper Intuition picked up something… a voice. A voice that resonated with my very psyche… "Look under the bush on the right as you leave the school. Don't let anyone see you!"

The Cervello stepped up. "Since all of Lovino's Guardians have assembled, the matches will be randomized again." She shook a box around, and withdrew a piece of paper. "The next match is: Rain!"

Yamamoto stiffened. Lovino's group, however, was lax. "So, are you coming with us?" Antonio asked Elizabeta as if they were talking about a party.

She shook her head. "I can't. If I did, I vould be ze only girl. I'm crashing at Kiku's place tonight."

Hibari narrowed his eyes at this. His expression, normally impossible to read, had changed into a subtle 'No… she can't be talking about him… there's more than one Kiku in the world'. Yeesh… that was scary. I could read minds now?

There was a cough. A simple sound like that was all it took for everyone in the area to turn around. I had exactly one second to register that Elizabeta's ex-husband was awake. After that, both she and Feliciano crowded around him, weeping. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, since they were speaking Hungarian, German, and Italian hand signs rapidly.

At last, Roderich stood up, and said something in German. He walked right over to the rest of us and said in heavily accented Japanese, "You are fighting Lovino?"

"H-hai…" I said nervously.

Roderich gave me a Look. "Vell, it is not your fault," he said at length. "Feliciano told me everysing. Ze mafia eeiz as harsh as ever… But vatch out. You vill be fighting ze Rain Guardian."

"Of course!" Gokudera-kun shouted. "That's what she just said!"

Roderich gave him an annoyed look. "Zat eeiz not vot I meant!" he yelled. "But anyvay, I know [gender neutral pronoun] vell… Vot vas zat?"

"Zantetsuken Reverse must haf left ze filter out again," said Gilbert. "[Gender neutral pronoun] does zat to hide [possessive gender neutral pronoun] identity." I couldn't really tell what was wrong with the filter, since the pronouns in Japanese were all gender neutral, but something must have happened.

"Anyvay, he may appear to be a placid young [gender undisclosed] on ze outside, but ven [GNE] is angry… You haf made [GNE] angry. Very, very angry. Und now, you must deal vis [GNE]."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?!" Gokudera-kun yelled.

"Nein. Eeit eeiz a varning," said Roderich, and he followed his ex-wife away.

I looked at Yamamoto-kun- and shuddered. His expression was completely serious, just like with him facing Squalo. But who was the Rain?

There were two members of Lovino's family who I could call placid: Emil and Tino. Maybe Antonio was the Rain guardian, and perhaps that guy with the eyebrows since I never saw him sober. Peter, the loud American (I just knew he was American somehow), and Feliciano were not part of the family, so that ruled Feliciano out. Not to mention the fact that there might be others that I didn't know, since Lovino said that they were in Japan, which is quite a broad area.

Hibari stalked off. Where was he going…?

Unnoticed, I picked up the note Lovino indicated for me. 'Don't think you've won,' it said. 'Elizabeta was holding back. No, she was using her full strength, but she didn't have any weapons. If she had… your friend would have been killed.' [3]

X

Hibari arrived at the gates of Honda's house. He leapt over the gate as he did the last time, and landed neatly on top of a conveniently placed pole. Looking out for another place to jump, he was interrupted by a loud shout.

Elizabeta, the Sun Guardian, was standing between the masked man and the sleepy man Hibari saw the day earlier. In her hands she held a frying pan, poised to strike the masked man.

"H-hey!" the masked man shouted. "Why the heck are you attacking me!?"

"Face it, Sadik," Elizabeta replied angrily. "If you and Heracles are fighting, zen I am more inclined tovards him zan you."

Heracles was silent, but glad for the interference.

"Aw, come on," said Sadik. "You still haven't forgiven me for _that_?" [4] Elizabeta glared at him. "Point taken."

At that moment, the doors rattled open. (A/N **I assume that Japan's house is a traditional Japanese one**). Honda himself ran outside, and tried to separate the three. "Please calm down, this is a home," he said. The three troublemakers reluctantly sheathed their metaphorical weapons. "And you, Hibari-san."

Hibari narrowed his eyes. He knew he was there? He was sharp…

"Are you here to train again?" Honda asked.

Hibari responded with a tonfa to the face—which was blocked quickly by a frying pan and deflected out of his hand. Elizabeta stood there, fuming. "So you break in and attack Kiku-kun!? Vot kind of a person are you!?"

Hibari didn't respond. "E-Elizabeta-chan, please calm down!" Honda said nervously. "He came here to fight me to train!"

"Oh," said Elizabeta, and she more or less sheathed her weapon. "Zen I von't interfere."

"Not crying over fights? As expected from the manliest-"

"Shut up, Sadik!"

Clang! Steel landed upon steel as sword and tonfa connected. Honda was a skilled swordsman, and Hibari always had the impression that he was always holding back. His greatest desire was to drag his full strength out at all costs…

At length, both combatants were weary from sheer exhaustion. Honda finally dropped his katana and said, "It had been several hours. Shouldn't we go to bed?"

Hibari narrowed his eyes and lunged for the fiftieth time that night—

"Come off it!" Elizabeta shouted, and tackled him head-on. The next moment, she gripped him in a wrestling position. "You should be sleeping right now! Have you eaten dinner?! You must take care of your body—you're going to regret being like zis! It is vone sing to be reckless in combat, but another to be so stubborn! Go home, wash up, brush your teeth, and GET SOME SLEEP!"

Her voice resonated with Hibari's psyche like his mother's, the hard, commanding side of the love. Fifteen minutes later, he found himself in his room, fully dressed in pajamas and brushing his teeth, having eaten a nutritious dinner with a lot of vegetables. It took a woman like Elizabeta to do something like that to Hibari Kyoya…

X

Greece and Turkey stalked off to separate corners of Japan's house, leaving him alone with Hungary. "**Japan**," she said in Hungarian. "**Romano never asked you to do his thing, did he**?"

"What thing?" he replied.

"**He** **needed help in his fight with the mafia; specifically, six other people**," Elizabeta explained. "**It was a tournament, like, and you would have fought**-"

"Against my own people," said Japan. "I know how Romano is. While he is ill-tempered and prone to cursing, he has his own honor. I do not think that he would have asked me to fight my own citizens."

Hungary thought at this. "**But you fought that kid**-"

"He came to me," said Japan. "That was training. Romano may not particularly like me, but he must have thought that I would not want to. I could if it is in self-defense, and I cannot refuse when something is asked of me."

"**So he decided to respect that**?" Hungary asked. She sighed. "**Even if he is an angry person, he is nice in his own way, isn't he**?"

"H-hai," said Japan, who couldn't really argue with anyone.

"Well, I hope that whoever that Vongola kid's Rain Guardian is is prepared. After all, he would have to fight…"

Japan and Hungary exchanged dark looks. "_Him_."

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Finland and food: I previously said that Finland was a good cook, until I found strips that contradicted this. I reconciled the differences by saying that while Finland is a good cook, his traditional food is horrible.

[2] Prussia forcing Poland to strip: Yes this happens.

[3] The match, Hungary holding back: I don't think that Ryohei is a match for Hungary, or any nation, at her full strength. Hibari so far is the only one to win a match with a nation.

[4] That which Hungary has not forgiven Turkey for: Wars between the two of them. Ottoman Empire anyone?

I'm not saying that Japan is stronger than Sweden, but Japan can predict Hibari's moves.

I-Pin's speech doesn't actually conform to how Chinese is actually structured, but I don't know enough Chinese to really have more than one way of speaking, and frankly, it would be boring.

Who is the Rain Guardian? Why is everyone so afraid of him? And when will Hibari snap out of his 'good son' trance?


	8. Chapter 8

**To SparomanoRulez**: Congratulations. You were right. Have a cookie.

**To all readers**: AVGsU00 made a point in his/her review. S/he noticed that America was called Peter last chapter. That was a mistake on my part, actually. America, who was unnamed at the time, charged at Levi but was intercepted by Lussuria. Lussuria asked him a question, but _Sealand responded to the question meant for America,_ and jumped into the fray. That was bad writing on my part, sorry!

Also, I forgot to add why I compared Hungary to I-Pin. It's because both looked like boys when they were young and later turned out to be very pretty girls.

And NO, Yamamoto's opponent was NOT copied from another KHR/APH x-over, 2 weeks of training. I had the idea long before that was published. And s/he did NOT copy from me, either.

Seriously? Several people (you know who you are) thought that America was the Rain Guardian! He is stated to not be part of Romano's family! Then again, I might have been vague on that.

Chapter 8

The next day was a day off from school, and I lay in bed that morning instead of getting up.

Yammoto's fight was up next, and I was still worried. I mean, I was plenty worried about Gokudera-kun and Onii-san (For lack of a better word, let's say that I had faith in Hibari), but this was different. Roderich had specifically warned me about the Rain Guardian. I had narrowed the choices down to the British man, Emil and Tino; I knew that Emil was strong from the way he fought Hibari without getting brutally beaten but I wasn't too sure about Tino or the British man. I saw that Tino wasn't weak from the moment I saw him, but…

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna~!" WHAM!

Ow… my head! "Reborn!" I said without looking. "What was that for!?"

"Just a greeting," said the professional minute hitman. "After all, I haven't made an appearance in a while."

Reborn wasn't here? "Where were you?" I asked.

"That doesn't matter. But I found something out from my sources—there aren't any files on any of Lovino or his family. Anywhere."

No files? "But they're all from different countries," I tried to rationalize. "Why-"

"The Vongola information gathering system is the best in the world—next to the Daily Days newspaper—so there's no way that there would be people missing from it," said Reborn. "I already checked all the files in Japan, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Italy, and so many other different countries. There is absolutely nothing on any of them."

Nothing? "Wait… who records these files, anyway?" I asked.

"The government," said Reborn simply. "Everyone has one— it's just that regular people don't have much on their records. Files usually contain criminal records and birth dates and circumstances. But Lovino's family members didn't even have a single file. Not to mention that the name of the first official kidnapped wasn't recorded either… they still had files back then. Something like a kidnapping must have been written down somewhere, but there wasn't a single mention of him anywhere."

There wasn't? "How long ago was this?" I asked. "When was Lovino's ancestor kidnapped?"

"About one hundred and fifty years ago," said Reborn. "There is also a law in place in the mafia world forbidding bosses from recording the name of the official they kidnap. And even before that… no one recorded his name. What is known is that the official supposedly told the Cibatta family some kind of secret when he was kidnapped. And he told all mafia bosses who managed to kidnap him that."

A secret? "But why would he do that?" I asked. "And why was he kidnapped in the first place?"

"I don't why, but that secret must have had something to do with his name," said Reborn. "Vongola Secondo was actually the one to set in place the law preventing the name from being recorded. From what Nono said, it was because he learned the secret. Additionally, it appears that he stopped telling those who kidnapped him the secret unless he deemed them worthy. As for why he was kidnapped in the first place… We never actually thought about that."

Ah… trust the mafia not to question kidnapping… "Is the name of the official's wife recorded?" I asked. "Or any other family members?"

"No. And those are the strange parts… Every official kidnapped had a brother or two, who was also left unnamed. The interesting thing is, only one brother was mentioned until around the 1960's. [1] Anyway, I heard about what happened with the Varia last night."

I gulped. What was he going to say…?

"Be careful. Who knows what the Varia is going to do."

I nodded, dressed myself, and went downstairs for breakfast. As usual, Bianchi, I-Pin, and Lambo were already at the table, and Mom was cooking something tasty…

Luckily, Reborn was feeling generous, and only stole about half of what was on my plate. I was forced to eat it quickly, because Bianchi was also feeling generous and wanted to make me whatever I missed out on. I managed to escape by claiming that I was er—going to Yamamoto-kun's house! Yes, that's it! I was going to Yamamoto-kun's house!

That threw her off, but I she offered to walk me there. So I had to walk in on Yamamoto-kun's house unannounced.

"Hello, Tsuna-san!" said Yamamoto-kun's father. "Takeshi is out practicing in the dojo right now."

Yamamoto-kun is practicing? Then he must be worried about his match… "I tell him that he should save his energy if he's going to have something tonight, but he didn't listen," said Yamamoto's dad.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave," said Bianchi. "I have to check up on my dear Hayato."

She's going to visit Gokudera-kun? I worry for him…

"Oh, by the way, Tsuna-san, could you give this to Takeshi?" Yamamoto's dad handed me a bottle. "This drink is for fatigue. I bought it off of a man on the street. He hasn't taken any breaks at all."

"I will," I said, and left for the dojo.

The moment I slid open the doors, I could see how badly exhausted Yamamoto-kun was. Every single pore in his body was sweating, and he was panting like a steam engine. Still, he was swinging hard and fast like a man possessed.

"Yamamoto-kun!" I shouted. He stopped, and collapsed straight onto the ground. "YAMAMOTO-KUN!"

"Hah… I'm fine, Tsuna…" he said, leaning on the now-Shinai-form Shigure Kintoki.

"B-but you just fell!" I shouted. I knelt down next to him. "Are you… preparing for tonight's match?"

Yamamoto-kun didn't say anything, but his eyes told it all. He was dead serious. "I'm stuck on who the Rain Guardian is… and I'm afraid."

"Afraid? About what?" I asked.

"I'm afraid that I'm right," said Yamamoto-kun. "The one that I think is the Rain Guardian… I'm terrified of him. This never happened to me before, not even with Squalo or Ken…"

Yamamoto-kun is scared of the Rain Guardian? "But who do you think it is? I didn't pick up anyone that scary with my Hyper Intuition…"

Yamamoto-kun gave me a sad look. "Maybe it's because you see everything, Tsuna. I just saw his bloodthirsty nature, and nothing else. Your Hyper Intuition was probably canceled out by whatever good he had in him…"

I wanted to say, _No, my Hyper Intuition can't be canceled out_! But then I thought, _Then how else? I didn't feel any bloodlust from the Brit, Tino or Emil… unless I'm looking in the wrong places. I know for sure that Feliciano, Peter, and that American man aren't in the family. Roderich described him as placid…_

"By the way," I said at last. "Your dad asked me to give you this." I handed him the bottle. "It's for your fatigue."

"Oh, is it a sports drink?" asked Yamamoto-kun, and he gulped it down. "Thanks, I really needed-"

He fainted.

I waved my hand in front of his face. "Hello…? Yamamoto-kun…?" I asked nervously. "AAAHHH! YAMAMOTO-KUN JUST PASSED OUT!" I screamed.

"So the medicine I gave his father really did work," said a foreign voice from the doorway. A man who appeared to be Chinese was watching. "What?" he said at the look of my expression. "The medicine was for fatigue! It made him sleep, so he is no longer tired!"

"… How did you get in?" I found myself saying.

"Front door," said the Chinese man. "Do not worry; he will be fine in a few hours. Just feed him some ginger root and cover his head in bubble wrap when he wakes up."

He then leapt out the window. Ah… now I have to go shopping! Let's see, I'm sure that I have enough money… I'll go tell his Dad, I'll shop for the stuff I need…

And that was how I ended up at the supermarket, in line with however-many people of so many different nationalities… Ludwig was in front of me, with a basket full of sausages. Roderich was directly in front of him, and… Did Lovino just cut in line? Was that Gilbert who put a pile of vegetables into Ludwig's basket? So Elizabeta was chatting to Roderich? And did Feliciano just get in line behind me? Was Peter begging Tino for chocolate? Was Emil nibbling on licorice? Was that the British man swordfighting with a man with long hair?

I peered around Ludwig. Was that… Was Antonio checking people out? And was he chatting with a Greek man?

"HEY, YOU!" roared Roderich. "STOP YOUR CHATTING! VE ARE ALL TRY TO GET SROUGH ZE LINE!"

"Calm down. I think that these things are normal in this neighborhood," said a tall Russian man. The other people in line appeared not to mind. In fact, several people had gotten out a table and were playing poker. A tall guy with shoulder-length brown hair was absent-mindedly shooting baskets while talking to a girl in a miniskirt.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO-" I lost the thread of what was going on with Roderich, since Tino was telling a joke to the loud American. Ah… this was kind of embarrassing…

"Hey, Antonio!" shouted Gilbert, who joined his brother in line with a crate of beer. "Vy can't you just start vorking?!"

"Gilbert, be quiet!" said Antonio. "I'm talking to Heracles! Oh, seriously?"

"M-hm." The Greek man grunted.

"Can't you do it for your ex-husband!?"

There was an awkward silence. "Ve… Gilbert just dropped the bomb," whispered Feliciano.

Both Roderich and Antonio stopped right into their tracks and turned red. Both of them began to protest loudly in German and Spanish. "Ja, ja," said Gilbert. "Ve all know vot you vere _really_ up to-"

"Giiiiiilbeeeeeeert," a female voice said from behind Gilbert, dragging each vowel out like a madman.

Gilbert blanched. "E-Elizabeta? … I probably deserved zis, didn't I?"

WHAM! CRACK! BAM! Elizabeta whipped out a frying pan and bashed Gilbert's head in. To my utter horror, no one seemed to particularly care. "That's normal," said the girl in the miniskirt.

"It… is?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yep."

"Kind of like how Feliks here keeps on crossdressing," said someone surfing the web on a laptop.

The tall man shooting baskets stopped, and sighed. "Feliks, seriously. You. Are. A. Guy."

The girl stared at him. "C-come on, Liet! It's not like I'm hitting on anyone or-"

"Remember the time a man hit on _you_?" Liet said, exasperated. "I had to pretend to be your boyfriend to stop him…"

"Ciao~, bella!" Dr. Shamal appeared from out of nowhere.

Liet sighed one more time. "See what I mean?" He turned to Shamal. "Sir, Feliks isn't a girl. He's a guy."

Shamal stared at Feliks for a while. "Never mind."

He turned to Elizabeta. "Hello, miss! I heard that you got pretty beat up last night. How about I go ahead and treat-"

WHAM! Elizabeta bashed his head in with her bare fist. "Zat vos ze fifth time I have been harassed like zat!" she shouted. "And zat is also ze second time zat I have been harassed vile being medically treated! And zat vas by him both times!" Elizabeta pointed to Gilbert.

Gilbert turned a bright shade of scarlet. "H-hey!" he shouted. "Zat does not count! Everyvone sought zat you vere a boy! Even you did!"

"Fine," said Elizabeta offhandedly. "I forgive you for zat, since you did not know." She glared at Shamal. "But _you_…"

"Who's that?" Peter asked amid the carnage.

"That's Dr. Shamal," Lovino answered. "He's a doctor, but an incredible pervert. He only treats women, except under special circumstances. But he is a real pervert… When he was arrested for adultery and put on trial with the queen, he hit on her too."

"Hey, didn't you hit on the queen of Spain?" Peter retorted.

Lovino blushed. "I was five! And all I did was ask her to kiss me…"

"Suuure…"

Lovino Vargas, asking the queen of Spain to kiss him… I couldn't imagine it. It was even harder for me to imagine him at five…

At last, the manager of the store barged out of an 'Authorized Personnel Only' door, and began yelling at Antonio. Antonio wilted, and he began to check people out again. He seemed a bit annoyed when Gilbert came along, but he checked out his stuff anyway when his turn arrived.

But when it was my turn…

I handed him the ginger and bubble wrap, and he picked up the scanner…

Boom. Like a bomb, my Hyper Intuition picked up killing intent. Not like Xanxus's, which was filled with fiery rage, nor Mukuro's chillily sane aura. This was pure, simple, cold hatred. Just feeling it gave me chills… no, not chills. Chills are just nerves. This was fear. Pure fear. Fear if you concentrated it times a thousand and left it out to dry. And I had no friends here, no powers, no Reborn, none of that fire that took that fear away. I was—

"Here you go. That would be one thousand yen," said Antonio. Phew… the aura vanished. I took the bag and left, taking care to see who was around. Emil was still eating his licorice absent-mindedly, and Tino was talking to the British man. Could they be…?

No. I had to get back to Yamamoto-kun. I could deal with them later.

X

I opened the door to Yamamoto's room, where he was clutching his head. "Hi, Tsuna!" he said jovially.

"Are you…okay?" I asked cautiously. That potion must have done a number on him…

"Great!"

"Hold still for a second," I said. "Someone told me that you had to eat ginger and have your head covered in bubble wrap…"

Yamamoto-kun took the ginger and chewed on it while I wrapped his head, leaving a space for him to breathe. "I had to stop training when Dad found out," said Yamamoto-kun. "He was the one who carried me up here. Said something about how I should take care of my body, especially before a match…"

"But Yamamoto-kun, I thought that you're supposed to rest the day before a game…" I said.

Yamamoto-kun looked at me for a second. Then he laughed. "Hahahaha… Tsuna, you just reminded me of something that every sportsman should know. I forgot in the heat of the moment…"

He sat up on his bed. "Let's rest! There's no point worrying about it! I'm going to sleep now. Tsuna, could you please wake me up beforehand?"

Before I could open my mouth to say yes, Yamamoto-kun fell asleep anyway.

"Such calm…" I said. Well, he is the Rain… No! Stop thinking of the roles! He is _not_ part of the mafia!

X

I returned to Yamamoto-kun's house later that day, just barely an hour before we were supposed to be at the school. Once we hit the road, his face became serious again.

Most of the people we saw earlier were there, but the loud American and Roderich were absent. The Brit was awake this time. The Cervello led us to a boxing ring; like the one used for the first Sun Match, but this one was bigger. Like the original Rain Stadium, it was flooded with water.

Didn't they say that they were trying to save money on this trial? Look at what they've already done… Giant lightning rod structure? Didn't I break that? Why did they get it fixed? Land mines? They had to bury them and everything… I mean, you can't reuse land mines… can you? Granted, they didn't use the Storm machines, but… Why?

"Challengers, step up!" shouted the Cervello. Yamamoto-kun climbed onto the ring, opposed by-

Antonio. Antonio was standing opposite him, carrying the giant axe I saw in the café. With only one hand. Easily. As if he was holding a bat…

The fear in my heart returned. This was Antonio? The fact that it was him made it worse… Was this the man who gave us that food at the café? The one who hugged Lovino so lovingly? The man who was chewed out by his boss…? The sunny man who hugged me?

The man whom I was most afraid of in the world.

His eyes held none of their past warmth, only icy fury. "So," he said to Yamamoto-kun. "You are my opponent, amigo?"

From the little Spanish I knew, I was sure that amigo meant friend. But the way he said it made me think of an axe murderer talking to their next victim.

Antonio smiled.

Everyone shuddered. Absolutely everyone shuddered. Reborn and Gokudera-kun were actually in the mafia before the rest of us, so they had enough experience to know murderous intent when they felt it. As for rest of us… None of us had ever encountered such a gigantic aura. It was probably more terrifying for the rest of us…

Even Lovino's Guardians seemed to be scared, but to a much lesser extent. Feliciano and Lovino were more quiet than usual. Ludwig was stock-still. Gilbert's normally swaggering face was a dead calm, but his expression was hardened as if he knew this would happen and knew there was nothing he could do about it. Berwald, Emil, and Tino remained more or less stoic; but Peter was clinging onto Arthur, who did absolutely nothing in the way of stopping him. Elizabeta was startled, but she immediately began to dial someone on her phone.

Yamamoto-kun's eyes narrowed. "So you were really the one I sensed," he said. "The one who had the most bloodlust out of all of you."

But why? Why would Antonio be the most bloodthirsty? Why is he doing this?

"Ah," said Antonio in a chillily jovial voice. "So you knew?"

The Cervello stood up, and announced in a loud voice, "The match of Rain will proceed as follows. You will fight until the other is rendered incapable of fighting. That is all."

She stepped back. "BEGIN!"

Antonio swiftly took the offensive, forcing Yamamoto-kun to block his strikes. I never thought of a battle-axe, or anything that heavy, could be used that fluidly. Yamamoto-kun was having trouble keeping up even with his natural skill.

Lovino shuddered. "A-Antonio… h-he's not usually like this…" he said; mostly to reassure himself than anyone else. "H-he isn't…" he isn't…"

Elizabeta put her hand on his shoulder. "I know he isn't…"

Yamamoto-kun was practically melting from the heat lamps, but Antonio wasn't even breaking a sweat. "Why… aren't you sweating…?" asked Yamamoto-kun.

Antonio grinned. "The sun will never be my enemy, mi amigo."

WHAM! Antonio caught Yamamoto-kun on the side of the head, forcing him to stagger for a moment. Before he could recover, Antonio hit him again with the butt of his axe.

"Yamamoto-kun!" I shouted.

Reborn watched, frowning.

Yamamoto-kun was coughing, choking, spitting out blood. Antonio was clearly winning. As Yamamoto-kun raised his head, Antonio's axe was at his neck instantly.

Both Yamamoto-kun and Antonio glared at each other; Yamamoto-kun a look of defiance, Antonio the gaze of a cold-blooded killer.

At last, Antonio spoke.

"Your name is Yamamoto, is it not?"

Yamamoto-kun didn't say anything, but Antonio seemed to take this as an acceptable answer.

"Tell me this: Why do you fight for the mafia?"

Yamamoto-kun was taken aback. For a long, hard moment, there was complete, unbroken silence.

And then Yamamoto-kun spoke. "At first…" he said quietly. "I thought that the mafia was a game that me and my friends played. I thought that our fights were like sports competitions; martial arts tournaments, even. Harmless fighting. But then, after the attacks from Kokuyo land came… I realized that it wasn't a game. People were really getting hurt…"

"And then Squalo almost killed me. After that… it wasn't for fun anymore." He looked straight into Antonio's eyes. "It was for pride. Swordsman's pride."

Antonio regarded him with a strange emotion. Was it…? Forgiveness?

"Idiota…" muttered Antonio. With the blunt end of his blade, he struck Yamamoto-kun. "This is all for pride, mi amigo?"

Yamamoto-kun was in serious trouble. I could hear his bones broken from here, and his organs must have been damaged. And Antonio didn't even hit him the edge of his blade yet…

"Pride is worth a lot," said Antonio. "But not enough to sell your soul to the _mafia_."

Yamamoto stumbled trying to get up, but managed to limp his way to a position that was only considered 'sitting' by way of eliminating 'lying down'. "W-wait…" he stammered. For a moment he was still, and seemed to hear the fear in his voice. "Wait…" he managed.

Antonio didn't say anything, but made no move to attack.

"You… why are you fighting…?" Yamamoto said. "Why…? What are _you_ fighting for…? It's not for pride… or for money. Are you just fighting to kill…? For the sheer pleasure of fighting…? If you were, then I would be dead by now…"

"That doesn't rule out the possibility of sadism," Gokudera-kun whispered.

"I… don't think so…" I said quietly. All of my team, plus Lovino and his family, turned to look at me. "Antonio… he's not really like this… is he?"

Lovino shook his head. "He's not… You really are perceptive, aren't you?" he grudgingly admitted.

I shrugged. "He just…never seemed to type to be like that…" I said lamely. "His smiles are genuine."

Antonio was quiet for a moment. For a moment he deliberately tried to look away from Lovino, and then shook his head. His axe clattered to the ground. "You're… You're right…" he muttered. "My reason… it's entirely selfish…"

He lifted his head. "Yamamoto-san… Your reason is selfish, but I'm not one to talk either…"

Antonio hefted the axe once more. "You're not as hurt as you think you are," he said. "Let's settle this quickly."

Yamamoto-kun smiled fiercely. "Yeah!" he said. He drew Shigure Kintoki, and charged.

Antonio sliced again, but Yamamoto-kun blocked. Both blades hung in the air for a second, and then pulled back. Antonio whirled the blade in the opposite direction, but this Yamamoto-kun blocked again. And again. And again. And again.

Something was up… Antonio's strikes were becoming slower and weaker. Yamamoto-kun was winning. But…

_Whoosh_! Shigure Kintoki's blade was right at Antonio's throat. Instead of glaring, Antonio dropped his axe again. "I surrender," he said, but he was smiling.

The Cervello stepped up. "The Rain match is over. The winner is Yamamoto Takeshi!"

Yamamoto-kun smiled, and shook hands with an equally happy Antonio.

I heaved a sigh of relief. It was over… But what had made Antonio falter like that?

Lovino yelled something at Antonio in a halfhearted way, but Antonio just laughed it off. Gilbert laughed, and said, "Come _on_, Lovino, you know he can't help it. Ven he's not homicidally murderous Antonio's veak."

That explained it, even if it was too convenient.

"Tsuna," said a voice from behind.

"Ack- R-Reborn!?"

"Four matches so far: You lost the Storm, but won the Sun, Cloud, and now this one. Not bad, Tsuna… but you haven't managed to secure victory yet."

I gulped. "Three left, r-right? Mist, Thunder… and Sky."

As if to confirm, the Cervello shouted that the next match would be Lightning.

Reborn nodded. "I wouldn't let my guard down if I were you. Who knows who the Thunder and Mist are…? Lovino is the Sky, for sure."

I nodded.

"Now, you need to get some rest. The Sky match traditionally comes up last, but who knows how strong Lovino is. You'll need all the rest you can get."

X

Contrary to Reborn's words, there was a party at my house that night. I don't know how it happened, but…

I think that Onii-san wanted to celebrate Yamamoto-kun's victory, so he went and gathered us all at my house.

So there we were, me, Onii-san, Chrome, Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera-kun, and Lambo; all gathered in my room, playing Scrabble. At least, Lambo was sleeping, so that made only five. The problem was that Onii-san only tried to spell the word 'Extreme' without an x, t, or m, and only one e.

"Come on, I have all of the x's! You can't spell Extreme with a k-s!"

Ding-dong… "Tsu-kun!" Mom shouted from downstairs. "Your friend's here!"

Friend? "Did you invite anyone else, Onii-san?" I asked.

"Nobody but Hibari, which I did EXTREMELY!"

Gokudera-kun and I exchanged glances. "H-Hibari-san…"

"C-coming…"

"H-here…"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" I shouted.

There was a knock on the door.

Slowly, I turned around.

H-Hibari? Was he behind that door?

Knockknockknock.

"WAAAHHH! I'm sorry!" I wailed.

"¿Qué?" said the voice behind the door. "All I did was knock…"

I did a double-take. "A-Antonio-san!?"

"What, were you not expecting me?"

Still in a state of shock, I opened the door. Antonio was standing in the doorway, holding a box of something. "Hola!" he said to all of us.

Gokudera-kun looked at him in a state of shock. "What… are you doing here?!"

Antonio looked at him as if he wasn't sure what the question was. "I… I wanted to apologize about how I was acting during the match…?"

"Don't worry," said Yamamoto-kun. "It's all right."

"It is? Oh, great!"

Both Rain Guardians sat opposite one another and laughed.

"But… Antonio-kun… what was your reason for fighting, anyway?" asked Yamamoto-kun. "I never got to hear…"

Antonio grinned. "Wasn't it obvious? It was for Lovi!"

"For Lovino?" I repeated. "Then why did you say it was selfish?"

"I… Lovi's lived with me ever since he was a child. So, naturally, I kind of became a little overprotective…"

"How so?" I asked.

"Whenever he's in danger or otherwise threatened, I kind of go into a murderous rampage and…" Antonio said, blushing.

"… We get the idea," deadpanned Gokudera-kun.

"But why is that selfish?" Chrome asked, and blushed immediately. "I… I mean, you are protecting him, aren't you?"

Antonio looked down. "Lovi… you have to understand, he's had a hard life. He's been suffering for so long… He hates violence. I don't want to go berserk and kill someone for him."

"Ah… I see…" Lovino and his family have been kidnapped for so long? Being held at the mercy of the mafia for so long?

"I'm sorry, but you don't," said Antonio, neither sharp nor laughing. Just… serious. "You… I looked at your file—well, Gilbert did while I held the door and he did say stuff out loud—and I saw what you've seen. Tsuna-san… You're seen a lot, especially for someone your age in this age. All of you have. Except maybe for Lambo."

Lambo muttered something unintelligible in his sleep.

"Gokudera-san… you know what it's like, don't you? Losing someone you care about… Lovi saw so many people die. He knew all of them. By name."

I stared numbly.

"But, let's stop thinking about these gloomy things!" Antonio shouted gleefully. "Here, have some churros!"

Wait, what?

Whatever the heck happened next, I had no idea. But the next thing that I could coherently recognize was the fact that we were partying. In my room.

"Oi! Tsuna!" shouted another voice.

"D-Dino-san!?" I shouted back. It really was him! "Uh… did you bring anyone…?"

"Hah! Of course not!" he said cheerfully. "After all, we're just having some fun here, aren't we? By the way, why are we celebrating?"

Antonio moved closer. "Ah… Actually… I kind of invited myself over and brought churros…"

"Ah?" said Dino. "And you are…?"

"Antonio. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo."

"Antonio? Sounds Spanish… Oh, right! I'm Dino."

"Doesn't sound like anything I know…"

The two of them chatted away happily.

"Oh? Enzio's taken a liking to you!"

"Hahaha! Turtles naturally respect me as their leader!"

And then Dino asked how Antonio knew us.

"I… Uh…" Antonio stuttered. "We kind of… had a deathmatch?"

"Yeah… Do you know Lovino Vargas?" I asked. "Because… Reborn forced me to kidnap him…"

"He did? Don't worry about that," said Dino. "Ah… I remember when Reborn forced me to kidnap him, too…"

Grr… Uh-oh… Antonio began to emit an extreme killing aura…

He smiled creepily and put his arm around Dino. "Let's go for a walk…"

I heard screams that night.

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] Third Italy brother, 1960's- Seborga declared independence in the 60's. He's the brother.

Who is the Lighting? What are the Varia up to? And what will Antonio do to Dino?


End file.
